





Class _JB’V / 4S t a 3 

Book_‘ Li 2_ 

Copyright N°_^_ 


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PULPIT SKETCHES 


BY 

REV. A! A; LAMBERT 

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Missionary 


VOLUME I. 


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CHICAGO: 

THE HENNEBERRY COMPANY 
554 Wabash Avenue 

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LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

One Oop> Received 

APR 12 < 190? 

^Tt/oyyrutnt tntry 

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MAi7 obstat 

WM. P. SHANNAHAN 

Censor Deputatus 


Imprimatur 

^ JAMES DAVIS 

Bishop of Davenport, Iowa 


Copyright 1907 
by 

A. A. Lambert 










TO MY BROTHER PRIESTS THESE 
SKETCHES ARE DEDICATED 
BY THE AUTHOR 


JTatljrr Cambirt, JHinmananj 






































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3ntiex 


First Sunday of Advent. 

Arise From Sleep. 17 

Second Sunday of Advent. 

Avoid Uncharitable Conversation. 24 

Third Sunday of Advent. 

Where Can True Happiness Be Found?. 29 

Fourth Sunday of Advent. 

Care Not For the Judgment of the World; Follow the 
Judgment of God. 34 

Christmas . 39 

Sunday Within the Octave. 

God’s Great Gift to Earth. 45 

"New Years Day . 49 

Epiphany . 53 

Sunday Within the Octave. 

The Great Gift of Faith. 58 

Second Sunday After Epiphany. 

Abuse of the Sacred Names. 62 

Third Sunday After Epiphany. 

Render No Evil For Evil. 67 

Fourth Sunday After Epiphany. 

Justice—Owe No Man Anything. 72 

Fifth Sunday After Epiphany. 

Forgive Another . 77 


y 

















Sixth Sunday After Epiphany. 

Be a Model Congregation. 82 

Septuagesima Sunday. 

Live and Work For God. 87 

Sexagesima Sunday. 

Solid Practical Service of God. 92 

Quinquagesima Sunday. 

True Charity . 98 

Ash Wednesday. 

The Spirit of Lent. 102 

First Sunday of Lent. 

The Acceptable Time . 107 

Second Sunday of Lent. 

Avoid Lust . 113 

Third Sunday of Lent. 

Shun the World . 119 

Fourth Sunday of Lent. 

Christian Freedom . 124 

Passion Sunday. 

Priesthood of Christ. 130 

Palm Sunday. 

Humility. 135 

Easter Sunday . I 39 

First Sunday After Easter. 

Faith . 143 

Second Sunday After Easter. 

Christ Our Model. 14 g 

Third Sunday After Easter. 

St. Joseph . I 54 

VI 



















Fourth Sunday After Easter. 

The Word of God. 159 

Fifth Sunday After Easter. 

Be Doers of the Word. 165 

Ascension Day . 170 

Sunday Within the Octave. 

Our Home Duties. 175 

Pentecost Sunday . 181 

Trinity Sunday . 188 

Second Sunday After Pewtecost. 

Love of the Poor. 194 

Third Sunday After Pentecost. 

Confidence in God .200 

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost. 

Value of Suffering. 206 

Fifth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Leave Self to Make Others Happy.212 

Sixth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Lead a Supernatural Life. 217 

Seventh Sunday After Pentecost. 

On Sin . 223 

Eighth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Catholic Instinct . 228 

Ninth Sunday After Pentecost. 

We Fall Gradually. 234 

Tenth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Perfect Yourself in Your Own State of Life.240 

Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost. 

All We Have Is From God. 246 

VII 




















Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost. 

The Spirit and Practice of Prayer.251 

Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Original Sin.—The New Life. 257 

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Christian Character . 262 

Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Charity to Those of Our Church. 267 

Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Only One Ood, One Christ, One Church. 279 

Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Only One God, One Church, One Christ. 279 

Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost. 

We Are Rich in Jesus Christ. 285 

"Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Speak the Truth. 291 

Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Lead An Orderly Life. 296 

Twenty-first Sunday After Pentecost. 

Life Battle Is For Eternity. 301 

Twenty-second Sunday After Pentecost. 

Christian Perfection . 307 

Twenty-third Sunday After Pentecost. 

Worldliness . 313 

Twenty-fourth Sunday After Pentecost. 

Live a Life Worthy of God. 319 


Note—If you should wish me to give a mission, apply to me 
at Davenport Cathedral, Davenport, Iowa, or 589 Millard Ave., 
Chicago, Ill. 


VIII 

















antrobuction 


Having 'preached for so many years, and having 
been requested by many of the clergy to write 
sketches or plans of sermons, I give the following 
pages to my brother priests, hoping they will be a 
help to them in the great work of preaching the 
word of God. Will you, my brother priests, allow 
me, in these introductory lines, to point out some 
reasons why our preaching does not always produce 
the desired effect, or why people do not like to hear 
sermons. 

How natural we are in our conversations and deal¬ 
ings with others, but as soon as we go into the pulpit 
we are not ourselves, we are not natural. We seem 
to assume something like another character, whether 
through nervousness or an assumed air of authority 
and dignity. We talk, we speak, we recite, we de¬ 
claim, we make great efforts; but alas, it is mostly 
talking, speaking, recitation, declamation, in an as¬ 
sumed character, not like ourselves, and above all, 
not from the heart. Such a sermon cannot be earn- 
7 





est and heartfelt, and no effect is produced except to 
tire the audience. 

Therefore, let us be natural, and above all, let us 
speak from the heart, from conviction, with persua¬ 
sion, and our sermons will be effective. A young 
priest, especially, is very apt to imagine that his first 
sermon must be a specimen of great power and elo¬ 
quence, something extraordinary, most astonishing, 
an original masterpiece never heard before, and 
many an older priest is influenced by some impres¬ 
sion, similar to this, when there is a question of 
preaching. This idea is very apt to rob our sermons 
or instructions of that beautiful simplicity and heart¬ 
felt conviction which makes the sermon so instruc¬ 
tive and carries with it complete persuasion. 

Let us go to the pulpit, not in the sublimity of 
language, or to preach ourselves, but to preach 
Christ with simplicity and humility, with earnest¬ 
ness, every word coming straight from the heart. 

Many sermons are merely language, pleasing, per¬ 
haps, for a while, but they are devoid of thought or 
solid food, for the soul. Such sermons are merely 
beating the air, and produce no good whatsoever. 
May the Lord save us from long sermons. Experi¬ 
ence proves beyond a doubt that they tire the people, 
and hence the congregation avoids going to the 
8 




Masses at which the preaching takes place. Let us 
say something very good and practical, and say it 
well, but let it be short. Let us create a hunger and 
thirst in our people by causing them to say that they 
would like longer sermons. This is the best proof 
that they appreciate what you say. To preach a sue- 
cessful sermon we must clearly grasp our subject. 
Re sure that you know what to say and how to say 
it, and then preach. Many will talk for a long time, 
and yet say nothing; the audience leaves the Church 
without having received any spiritual food, which 
is the object of preaching. 

Every one is not gifted with elocutionary powers 
or a fine appearance or naturally attractive man¬ 
ners, gifts which are, no doubt, a great help to keep 
an audience; and yet they may be a hindrance to the 
spiritual welfare of the audience. In a good sermon 
the preacher, to a great extent, is overlooked by his 
earnestness, by speaking from the heart, by showing 
his audience that he speaks from the inmost convic¬ 
tion of his heart, feeling what he says, and preaching 
for the welfare of souls. 

I need not add that our lives should be blameless 
and exemplary; that we should practice what we 
preach; otherwise our preaching is in vain. The 
good life of a pastor is the most impressive, influ- 

9 





ential and eloquent sermon he can 'possibly preach. 
Preaching is divine work, and without God’s bless¬ 
ing all our preaching is worthless. After we have 
fully grasped our subject, and our hearts have fully 
realized its moral grandeur and importance, let us 
soak that subject in a fervent prayer to God, espe¬ 
cially to the Holy Ghost, through the intercession of 
our Immaculate Mother. 

Under no circumstances be personal. Whenever 
you are personal, especially in money matters, you 
do more harm than good; you cause bitter feelings, 
and you drive the people away from the Church. A 
good pastor should be above all this. By praising 
those who do their duty, and ignoring the negligent, 
you will indirectly, but forcibly, impress the negli¬ 
gent. 

Be very careful about visions and apparitions and 
so-called wonderful or miraculous anecdotes. Our 
words are the words of the anointed and legalized 
ministers of Christ. We have plenty of solid matter 
for faith and piety without losing time in preaching 
upon subjects upon which the Church has not set her 
sanction, or which are not found in the fathers or 
doctors of the church. A word about written ser¬ 
mons. By these I mean that the discourse is written 
out in full, learned by heart, word for word, and 
10 




spoken word for word. Unless it is a lecture, which is 
read in public, I do not think it advisable to write 
out a sermon in full, and learn it by heart word for 
word. It is certainly good and praiseworthy to write 
a sermon, but to learn it word for word, and, thus 
memorized, speak it word for word, will take away a 
great deal of the effect of the sermon. Besides it is 
almost impossible for most priests to prepare such a 
sermon every week. Some good priests have a com¬ 
plete set of sermons for the whole year, but unless 
they fill their minds and hearts with their subject 
again, especially if they preach these same sermons 
several times they will grow careless, and the unction 
and heartfelt emotion of the sermon is lost, ,4s I have 
said, let there be, every time we are called upon to 
preach, careful preparation; let us gather clear and 
correct ideas; let us mature them and pray, then 
preach, and preach every sermon as if it were the last 
and only one which you are going to preach; put 
your whole soul into it. By doing this, the practice 
of preaching will be acquired; we will grow to be at 
home in the pulpit. Brother priests, let me exhort 
you with my whole heart and soul to read both the 
letter and the Gospel every Sunday distinctly and 
with great reverence and devotion. Very often the 
letter and the Gospel are read very quickly and care- 




lessly, as if they were of no importance. The man 
who is about to preach is, perhaps, nervous, or his 
mind is so full of his sermons, afraid he might for¬ 
get. Dear brother priest, your sermon can never 
equal, much less surpass, the words of Jesus or those 
of his Apostles. 

In every sketch there are plenty of suggestions or 
points. Use what suits you, but make them your 
own and preach them in your own way. Be natural 
and in earnest. When any accident or extraordinary 
fact happens, if possible make use of it as a compar¬ 
ison or illustration. In other words, let Gospel truth 
come fresh from a zealous and earnest soul with a 
fresh or new dress for a supernatural motive, and 
the sermon will be effective. Our study should be, 
not to preach new doctrine, or minimize or compro¬ 
mise. Far from it. Our aim and sincere effort 
should be to preach the Gospel, pure and simple and 
clear, but explained by making use of physical facts 
that happen before us, easily understood. In preach¬ 
ing show your hatred for sin, but pity and mercy 
for the sinner. Avoid all exaggerations; never overdo 
it. It is very easy to scare people—that is, to produce 
nervous excitement. This lasts for a short time only, 
and there is no conviction, but merely a passing feel¬ 
ing. How many priests paint well the evil of drink, 
12 





of dancing, and many other subjects by 'exaggera¬ 
tions, false impressions, thus only exciting the im¬ 
agination and causing some nervous excitement. 
God will never bless such work, for it is not His; 
God despises false or exaggerated statements. The 
effects of such preaching are not lasting. Remember 
that in many cases of persons who fall, there is a 
great deal of ill-health, prejudices of early training, 
false impressions, evil surroundings, and above all, 
strong passion. A general sketch or plan which is 
easily developed and can be used very readily on 
many an occasion when called upon to preach, is as 
follows: 

1. What does God think of this? How does He 
act upon the world and its people? 

%. What does Jesus Christ think of this? What 
did He say about this, and how did He act? 

3. What did our Blessed Mother do? 

Jj. The Apostles, the great saints and doctors of 
the Church, the martyrs and all those who lead holy 
lives, who are in heaven, canonized by the Church. 

5. How did they live, for their actions speak 
more eloquently than their words. 

6. What do the good people of our day say? 
How do they act? 


13 




7. Whom shall we follow, the former or the 
wickedf 

8. All the noble-minded and pure-hearted are 
with God and Christ and His Blessed Mother and 
the saints. Let us make our choice . 

As parish priest, in your instructions and sermons 
on Sundays and feast days, never speak directly to 
the non-Catholics. Your first duty is to make your 
own people good, practical Catholics by giving 
them clear explanations of Catholic doctrine, and 
leading them to the practice of what you preach. 
This will keep the fervent in the faith, and 
strengthen them, and bring back the fallen ones. If 
we, by our ministry accomplish this, there will be 
no non-Catholics. The good lives of our people will 
convert them. Of course, if a priest has special serv¬ 
ices for them, like a mission, or a course of lectures 
or instructions, he is to be encouraged in the work, 
but let our first care be our own. Brother priests, 
let us not talk at the congregation, but talk to them, 
as ministers of Jesus Christ. In connection with 
these sketches use a Bible concordance. There are 
two very good ones written in English—one by 
Father Vaughan, the other by Father Cox. 

Finally, allow me to say that my earnest wish is 
that you will preach these sketches with the same 


14 




feeling with which 1 am writing them. I sincerely 
aim at God's honor and glory, at the salvation of 
souls, and thus to try and save my own. Should 
these sketches prove acceptable to my brother priests, 
other volumes will be published. The next will be 
sketches on the Gospels of the Sundays, one volume 
for forty hours' devotion, and others for giving mis¬ 
sions, triduums, novenas, retreats to priests, sketches 
for the festivals of the year, meditation book for 
priests, for religious. They are the outcome of thirty 
to forty years of experience, and I most willingly 
will spend the remainder of my days in publishing 
them if they will do good. Any criticism will be 
most cheerfully received. Success to my dear brother 
priests in the great work of saving souls. 

THE AUTHOR. 


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ifirat ^uttbap of Bltoent 


Suggestion: We as priests, as pastors of souls, 
should be more ready and anxious to call our people 
and arouse them from their spiritual sleep—which 
is so dangerous—than good parents are to call their 
slothful or negligent children every morning from 
their beds. At most they are sluggish and sloth¬ 
ful — are apt to lose their position—but we who are 
responsible for their souls, how anxious and zealous 
we should be. Now in the words of the Apostle— 
this is the proper time to awaken them from their 
sleep, which may be fatal at any moment. 


Text from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans: 
“Arise from sleep ” 

We hate very much to be aroused when we are 
in a sound sleep. To be disturbed then is very un¬ 
pleasant, annoying. We get cross and blame people 
for awakening us. 


17 






We generally try to sleep as long as we can, 
provided we can get in time for work or business. 

Of course it is not our intention to sleep too 
long. Oh no, we go and lie down—we gradually 
fall asleep—and become forgetful of everything 
around us. 

Hours pass and there we are, soundly, deeply 
asleep. Morning comes and they awaken us—it is 
time to rise. It is daylight or the sun will soon 
rise. 

Even then how we dislike to rise. Even then 
when we should rise we try to delay as long as possi¬ 
ble. A few minutes more until we get to business, by 
rushing, hurrying, barely in time—often too late. 
What a slothful man or woman we are. 

If unforeseen accidents should happen—a fire 
close by—in our own home; a burglar trying to 
break in; we are frightened, we leap from our beds. 
Oh, we thank the good relative or friend who called 
us and saved our life. 

Many people are in the habit of leading so 
slothful a life—call it a habit of laziness—which 


18 




makes them slaves to a feeling of sloth and self-in¬ 
dulgence. 

We see this habit very often in children. 
Father or mother have the greatest trouble in awak¬ 
ening their children—boys and girls—they have 
to be called time and again in order to get them 
ready for school or work. How anxious their good 
parents are. We find them calling, entreating, coax¬ 
ing these lazy children to rise from sleep. 

The mother: “Oh you will be late —now do 
get up—you will lose your position.” And what I 
say about children, very often holds good for grown¬ 
up people. 

Many while thus sleeping are dreaming and 
many wonderful phantasms pass before their imag¬ 
ination. How real, how distinct. It is life for them 
and when they awake—alas! it is all gone—it was 
an empty dream. What emptiness—what vanity. 

For the majority, life is but sleep and dreams. 
They never awaken unless death calls them to awaken 
in the other world. 

Many have called, and do call, sleep the 
image of death. Explain why. Therefore St. Paul 

19 




speaks so clearly about the spiritual sleep, or the 
death of the soul. 

Now, brethren, look on the whole world and you 
will find thousands of sleepers, with the sleep of 
eternal death, to which St. Paul refers. 

Let us apply this to the supernatural and per¬ 
haps we will find that we are asleep—dead to the 
supernatural and that we are satisfied with leading 
a life of vanity, of dreams of things that are not real. 

The great Apostle says: “Now is the time to rise 
from sleep.” And why? To-day, the first Sunday 
of Advent—the dawn that preceded the rising of the 
great and only true light of the world—Jesus Christ 
—who came to enlighten every human being who 
cometh into this world—being in other words, Ad¬ 
vent, the time to prepare for Christmas. 

I need not tell you what you have heard time 
and again about the moral darkness—that is, the 
state of the minds and hearts of those who lived 
before Christ—idolatry, lust, drunkenness, might 
was right, deifying the fruit of their unrestrained 
passions. 

For four thousand years mankind lived in this 
darkness. No wonder, then, that the great Apostle 
20 




called upon the first Christians to rise from sleep, as 
Jesus Christ, the light of the world, had come. 

Brethren, do you see that good, anxious mother, 
with her heart full of anxiety, stand near the bed¬ 
side of her careless, slothful son, sleeping away his 
life,—calling, as I told you—entreating—reasoning. 

Ah, brethren, the ministers of Christ are here 
to repeat to you the earnest appeal of the apostle, 
for to-day, many, very many, are sleeping the sleep 
of sloth, neglect and indifference. 

And let me add that we Christians of to-day are 
more culpable than those who lived before Christ, 
for they had not the light of the world—Jesus 
Christ. 

We, with the anxiety of a father, devotion and love 
for the salvation of your souls, every year, during 
this Holy season—Advent, the preparation for 
Christmas—call upon you in the name of God, of 
His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, of our holy mother, 
the Church. We, acting in accordance with the 
spirit and teachings of your church, having at heart 
your welfare, both spiritual and temporal, to open 
your eyes and rise from that state of sleep, of dark- 
si 




ness and of sin, in which you may be slumbering 
at the risk of losing all—your immortal souls. 

0 beloved ones in Christ Jesus, when I as your 
pastor, look around in my congregation and see 
so many souls, confided to my care, do I not find, 
can I not find some, perhaps many, who are asleep 
with the sleep of which the Apostle speaks—per¬ 
sons who have practically fallen away from the 
Church. No Easter duty, no mass on Sundays or 
holy days, never any prayer, never helping the 
Church. Even worse than all, giving bad example. 

Souls so precious in the sight of God—consider 
my duty towards you. What must I say? What 
shall I say? Will you suggest to me what to say? 
Place yourself in my position and with my responsi¬ 
bilities. Am I not simply doing my duty in de¬ 
ploring any sloth or neglect which I clearly find in 
our midst, among those whom God has confided to 
my care, and for whom I shall have to answer 
on the day of Judgment? Shall I keep silence when 
the great Apostle tells his helpers in the work of 
saving souls to insist, to urge, even to rebuke, yes 
with patience, but also with zeal, those who are care¬ 
less? 


22 




Which is your great or principal fault? What 
is the cause of your sleep ? Examine your conscience 
and remove that cause during this holy season. 

If you are aware of any glaring fault existing 
in your congregation, call their attention to it in a 
very careful and prudent manner, so as not to give 
offense, but instruction, and for the simple reason 
that you are anxious to see them perfect Christians. 

Invite all to unite in prayer—to obtain the spirit 
which filled the souls of the patriarchs and prophets 
who lived before Christ and longed for the coming 
of Jesus. They prayed, they raised their eyes and 
hands and hearts to heaven, leading holy lives in 
fasting and penance. 

Brethren, will you continue to sleep or slumber, 
will you let me call you in vain, until death springs 
upon, until perhaps a fatal accident will lay you 
low, gasping, unconscious in the jaws of death? 

Oh, the moral darkness of four thousand years 
that covered the earth before Christ! We have the 
fullness of the light. Let us therefore prepare well 
for Christmas. Let all sin and scandal disappear 
from our midst, so Christmas will bring to us joy 
and happiness— not for this life alone, but for life 
eternal. 


23 




^econb ^unbap of Bbbent 


Letter to the Romans: “That with one mind and 
one mouth you may glorify God.” 

Suggestion: We should be one in God, so that 
what we think and say of one another should be 
the fruit of Christian charity. 

The greatest law is the law of Charity. Explain 
it—“Love thy neighbor as thyself,” etc. 

The observance of that law shows whether we are 
Christians—that is, acceptable to God or not. With¬ 
out charity we cannot please God. 

That charity of Christ, as the apostle tells us, 
should be in our mind and in our mouth, so that our 
mouth will speak from the abundance of our heart. 

We should esteem our neighbor as the image of 
God, as our brother or sister, in Jesus Christ. 

Therefore no rash judgments and above all, no 
uncharitable remarks, no evil insinuations, no gos¬ 
sip about our neighbor. 


24 






It is well said in the Great Book: “A man who 
does not offend in speech is perfect. ,, 

The words we speak are the expression of our 
thoughts and of the feelings of our hearts. 

How careful, therefore, we should be in speaking 
about our neighbor. 

Gossips, who bridle not their tongue, have no 
religion, for St. James says: “If any one bridle not 
his tongue,” etc. 

We are so particular about our being accused of 
any injustice, even in a very small amount, and 
yet the injustice we do our neighbor by gossiping 
or uncharitable and especially slanderous remarks, 
is far greater than stealing. 

The Holy Ghost tells us “that a good name is 
more valuable than riches.” 

The law of justice requires that restitution shall 
be made, even for the smallest amount, otherwise 
we shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Now, more so, does the law of justice require 
restitution, if we have injured our neighbor in his 
good name. 


25 




It is so easy to injure our neighbor, by insinua¬ 
tions, or by gossip—those who hear it repeat it, add 
to it—and so it grows worse and worse. 

The harm done by uncharitable conversation 
spreads—it ruins families (separates husband from 
wife), causes dissensions in the family between par¬ 
ents and children, between neighbors, between pas¬ 
tors and their congregations. 

It is like a prairie fire—running wild and de¬ 
vouring everything with which it comes in con¬ 
tact. 

If one steals dollars and cents, a hundred dollars 
returned for a hundred stolen, will make restitution 
for a dollar is a dollar; but in the case of gossip, the 
amount of restitution is ever on the increase, there¬ 
fore it is more difficult to make restitution. 

If a murderer has taken the life of another and 
dies on the scaffold—life for life—there is resti¬ 
tution. 

If I am murdered by the assassin, I get the sym¬ 
pathy of all. Not so if I am slandered. I am 
injured and persecuted and the evil tongues are 
stabbing me, killing me by inches—and there is 
no restitution. 




Self respect should move you never to be guilty 
of that ugly fault, for 

It destroys, in those to whom you talk, all con¬ 
fidence in you. 

Generally gossips are guilty of the same faults 
about which they accuse their neighbor. 

By talking about your neighbors you reveal your 
own faults and try to hide them behind those of 
your neighbor. 

You show that you are filled with jealousy and 
spite, the two great sources of gossip. 

Others will talk about you as you talk about them, 
for with the same measure you measure them, they 
will measure you. 

Therefore, stop and correct this great evil. Friends, 
I beg of you, if this fault is in our midst, banish 
it forever. Let us be as the apostle says: “With 
one mind and one mouth serving God.” 

Let us bridle our tongue—let our conversation 
be full of charity. 

If in the past we have been guilty, let us try not 
only to stop that fault, but to do our best to undo tfie 

27 




harm we have done, by taking back what we have 
said, inasmuch as we can, then speak well of one 
another. 

Study your neighbor’s good qualities, overlook 
his defects and pray for him—that God may bless 
him. 

Holy Scripture says: “Let the word of a friend 
die in your heart.” Well, if you should hear any¬ 
thing about your neighbor, let it die in your heart 
—do not whisper it even to any one. 

Above all, never be a tale-bearer. 

Brethren, let prayer go to God from all our united 
hearts and mouths, that our dear Father in Heaven 
may look down upon us—his beloved and loving 
children. 

May the charity of Jesus Christ dwell in your 
minds and hearts and mouths, is the constant prayer 
of your pastor. 


28 




^tjitb ^unbap of Hbbent 


Reading is taken from the letter which St. Paul 
wrote to the Philippians. I’ll read this letter for 
you. In it he says: Rejoice in the Lord always, 
again 1 say, rejoice. 

Plan: Joy is the fruit of happiness. Happiness 
is peace, the peace of which the apostle speaks when 
he says: “And the peace of God, which surpasseth 
all understanding.” Keep your hearts and minds 
in Christ Jesus forever. 

Happiness, where can you he found—tell me 
ye heavens—0, earth—0, angels of God—0, men 
here on earth—tell me where can I find happiness. 

Our hearts yearn for it, long for it and we look 
for it day and night and always; and alas! we often 
think we have found it, only to be deceived and 
disappointed. 

Every human being tries to solve the great prob¬ 
lem of life. What is it? To be happy. Everyone 
that ever lived and lives today—you and I—we are 

29 





ever searching for happiness—all we do and think 
of is—to look for happiness. 

Why build our home nice and comfortable? It 
is to be happy. Why do we toil—keep them neat 
and clean and furnish them? To be comfortable, 
which is only another word for happiness. 

Why do we work? To make a living, to lay by 
some means—to live nicely—to have some wealth. 
What does all this mean but to be happy? 

Why do we look for nice neighbors, and good and, 
if possible, wealthy neighbors and high society? 
Amusements—pleasure—gratification—ease. Oh, in 
order to enjoy life, in other words to be happy. 

And why do we do all this without having been 
taught? It naturally comes from our nature. 

Do you not see it clearly? God made us for 
eternal, true, real happiness, and we cannot help 
acting, following that inborn and beautiful tendency 
of our nature. 

And yet, although every human being, young 
and old, look for and seek for happiness, why is it 
that so few really find it? It is a great pity that 
the millions never reach it because they do not look 
for it where alone it can be found. 


30 




Nothing finite, created, nothing which is in this 
world—honor — pleasure — wealth — can satisfy a 
mind and heart which have been made for the in¬ 
finite. 

And yet the majority of men try to do this im¬ 
possible thing; and all who try it, fail and make life 
simply wreck and ruin. 

Examples : Kings, emperors, courtiers, ambitious 
people not happy, although they imagined they 
would be, before they reached the object of their 
ambition. 

People in daily life—they have a plan to make 
money, to buy a nice home or a fine farm, to gain 
honor or esteem, to be ahead of their neighbors, to 
gain the heart of some one, to be prominent on the 
stage, or even in the pulpit, and when they reach 
the end of their efforts they are not happy, there 
is still something more they want. 

The human heart never says it is enough. Mil¬ 
lionaires try to increase their wealth, no matter how 
rich they are. Ambitious men and women try to 
go higher still and yet no one of them has ever 
been really happy. 


31 




Alexander was not happy, though he had con¬ 
quered the then known world. Poor Solomon in 
all his glory, the man who had never refused his 
heart any wish, as he stood in his full manhood, 
over 80 years old—had to acknowledge that “All 
is vanity—save to serve God.” 

Go and find a man who has accomplished every 
thing he could in this world, and unless he served 
God, he must admit that he is not really happy. 

In business, in worldly matters, how quickly do 
we learn and take lessons from our neighbors. Do 
we engage in any business which has proved unprofit¬ 
able to all those who have tried it? Oh, no. 

Why then be so blind in the great affair of our 
salvation, in the finding of true happiness? Why 
not imitate Christ and His saints and find not only 
temporal, but eternal happiness? 

Here self-conceit blinds us. We think we are 
smart. Oh, we know of others, but we are not going 
to do as they do. We will turn to real happiness in 
time, but for the present, we must first provide for 
this world. 

How foolish, when our Lord so distinctly says: 
“Seek ye first the Kingdom,” etc. 

32 




How few people know real happiness. They have 
never tasted real happiness. Like savages who have 
never tasted any real good and well prepared foods. 

How it brings peace and security to both the mind 
and heart of the good Christian, how they are really 
happy and nothing can take away their happiness, 
for as the apostle says: “It is the happiness, the 
peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding 
and it keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus 
forever. 

Brethren, we have been born for nobler things 
than the fleeting show of this world. Raise your 
minds and hearts on high—live for God—seek for 
happiness where alone it can be found. Be no more 
a child or baby, who looks for toys and trinkets, only 
to take hold of them and then throw them away, 
to look for others, which again are thrown aside. 

Squander not your precious time in trifles, but he 
men—Christians—who look up to God and live for 
Him, thus finding true happiness which shall bring 
true and lasting joy forever. 


33 




jfourtt) &mbav of Hbbent 


Reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Corin¬ 
thians: “Let me call your attention to his words 
—what are the judgments of men: There is but one 
who judgeth and judgeth rightly—that is God ” 

Plan: How rash are the judgments of men! 
How little importance we should attach to them, 
but fill our minds and guide our lives by the judg¬ 
ments or the word of God. 

Men judge from the exterior, impression at first 
sight, judge others by themselves. Their judgments 
are rash, not the fruit of reflection. 

Their natural likes and dislikes are the standard 
upon which they base their judgments. 

They go by first impressions—looks—manner of 
acting—they do not stop to think. They will not 
allow for surroundings and circumstances. 

They have some idea of goodness or greatness. It 
is worldly—dress, fashion , the home, and its sur- 

34 





roundings, in fact they judge their neighbor not 
by what he is, but by his surroundings. 

It is all outward and the mind and the heart, no 
matter how well balanced or cultured, are not taken 
into consideration. They are the feathers of the 
bird—its nice appearance, but not the bird itself. 

The world goes further. We judge people by the 
way in which they speak to us—how they flatter and 
praise us—by what they do to us and for us—their 
kindness, their goodness to us; in other words, they 
are good or bad just as they like us and are good to 
us or overlook us. It is self-love and moral blind¬ 
ness which is the cause of our rash judgments of our 
neighbors. 

The world judges even the word of God—the doc¬ 
trine of the Church—the doctrine which I have to 
preach to you, and which I try to preach to you. 
Oh, wouldn’t I be a lovely and agreeable speaker 
if I were to find out what you like, what doctrine 
would suit you best, what would flatter you, and 
yet I cannot take into consideration whether people 
like the doctrine or not. 

All this shows that we cannot rely on our judg¬ 
ments and especially in our own case, and therefore 

85 




the apostle tells us so clearly about the judgments 
of men. Let me read again what he says: “But to 
me, it is a, very small thing,” etc., words of to-day’s 
reading. 

Yes, he that judgeth me is the Lord. The apostle 
advises us to wait till his coming and not to judge 
others and even ourselves according to our impres¬ 
sions and individual notions. 

For our judgments in most cases are rash , that is 
without sufficient reason or grounds and whenever 
we judge in this way we usurp the right of God— 
who alone can judge us correctly. 

Therefore the judgments of people in general 
should not influence our actions, for if we are in¬ 
fluenced by them, we become slaves of human re¬ 
spect. 

The word of God—the teaching of holy mother 
Church, these should influence our sayings, our 
actions, our lives; for then we shall be guided by 
the judgment of God. 

The world is ruled by talk—by fashion—by hu¬ 
man respect and therefore by slavery. 

We should be free with the freedom of the chil¬ 
dren of God, abide by his word and do not allow 

36 



yourselves to be influenced by the false and rash 
judgments of the world. 

What a blessing it is for those who do not abide 
by the false and rash judgments and sayings of this 
world, that God will not judge us according to their 
opinions or notions, but by his own infallible and 
just judgment. 

He will completely upset and reverse the judg¬ 
ments of this world and will give judgment to each 
one of us just as we deserve. 

He will not ask the opinion of the world, nor 
take into account the foolish and rash sayings of 
the world. On the contrary, he will severely con¬ 
demn them. 

What a great triumph it will be for all those who 
did not allow themselves to be influenced by this 
world, but judged the world by the light of the 
Gospel. 

How the good enjoy during life, the perfect free¬ 
dom of the children of God, as they are not slaves 
of the world and its vanities. 

Therefore, the good Christian does not care what 
the world thinks or says about him, but endeavors 

37 




to see himself in the light of God's judgment by ap¬ 
plying to himself the law of God. 

For hirti there is the standard by which he 
judges, fully convinced that the world and all that 
is in it will pass away, but the word or judgment 
of God shall never pass away. 


38 




CftrtsJtmasi 


Come let us adore. 

The feast which Holy Mother Church places be¬ 
fore us to-day is so beautiful and charming that 
words cannot do justice to its loveliness and grand¬ 
eur. 

Do you think that I would preach to you on any 
particular subject to-day—when Jesus lies in the 
manger—and by his irresistible practical sermon, 
which he preaches from that manger, gives more 
light to our minds and strength to our wills and 
love to our hearts than my or all the greatest ef¬ 
forts of the most eloquent speakers could produce. 

Brethren, I ask of you, Come and adore. In that 
humble and abandoned stable there is a light that 
never was seen on earth before—the true light of 
the world, Jesus Christ. 

The son of God comes to save us. Here is his 
first sermon. His pulpit is the manger. His elo¬ 
quence is the eternal silence of the divine nature. 





You must pray and study. It is the masterpiece of 
God’s love and generosity to man. It is the person¬ 
ality of the son of God, clothed in our human na¬ 
ture. It is not a magnificent piece of art like a 
painting, colored on canvas, which by the magic 
touch of divine inspiration has become immortalized, 
nor like the marble block brought into life by the 
precise and delicate touches of the chisel in the 
hands of a noble mind and a warm heart. It is 
the reality, no imitation. It is divine art in its 
highest and loftiest idea, the divine enshrined in the 
human. Manhood encircling Godhead, harmoni¬ 
ously blended into one person—the second person 
of the adorable trinity—Jesus Christ, true God and 
true man. 

He is there in the form of the babe, they call him 
the babe of Bethlehem, the most lovely child that 
was ever born into this world. Do not expect me 
to tell its beauty. Angels could not do justice to it 
and far be it from me to make the attempt. 

There lies the fulfillment of the promise of God 
to man: “A saviour shall be born.” There is the 
reason of the angels singing their glory to God in 
the highest and peace on earth to men of good will. 

40 




Just as the earth was dark and void before the 
Creator made light to dispel darkness, and bring 
life and power to earth, so was the moral world in 
gloom and utter darkness—but there lies the sun 
of justice—the light of the world. 

Here is the most eloquent irresistible sermon 
that was ever preached—a God man—but where is 
he born—in a humble and an abandoned stable. 
He lies in a very poor manger, his bed is straw; no 
cradle to rock him. Rocking the infinite can only 
be done by a most pure, loving woman, chosen by 
the Almighty himself. Her arms and her warm 
heart, strong with the impluses of divine love, made 
perfect by the birth of her infant Jesus, constitute 
the true resting place of the Son of God. 

No palace, no ordinary home, but both manger 
and stable, are the proofs of Jesus, who preaches the 
value of poverty by his example. 

His humility—there it is—poorer than the poor¬ 
est. He there so eloquently practices what he preached 
later on. When invited, take the lowest place. Was 
there ever a child born under circumstances so poor 
and humble. 


41 




Rich and poor, come, adore, pray and study and 
drink in deeply the great eternal truths preached 
by the infant Jesus from his great pulpit, the man¬ 
ger. 

Watch! Do you see that sweet, charming girl 
of about 16, wrapt in contemplation, gazing with 
eyes full of love, her young bosom heaving with 
emotion and holy joy? Do you want me to tell who 
she is? Do you look at her countenance, her beauty 
is more of heaven than of earth. See the sweet face 
of the babe and again her face. Do you see the 
perfect resemblance? Ah, mother and child. O, 
the sublime word, Mother, but the mother of Jesus, 
the mother of God. 

0, if she would tell us what her young motherly 
heart feels at this moment—but no, dear mother 
of Jesus, there is no language that could possibly 
express the sublime emotions of your heart—they 
can be felt, but not expressed. 

Forget not the holy Joseph. See him in deep 
adoration. He gazes upon the infant and his heart 
goes forth to it. It is Thabor for him and from the 
babe his eyes meet those of his immaculate spouse, 
the Virgin, the two greatest treasures that heaven 


42 




gave to earth and God the Father has confided 
them to his care—0, Holy night. 

This feast, brethren, is essentially one of generos¬ 
ity. God gives us himself in the personality of his 
divine Son in our form. He is bone of our bone 
and flesh of our flesh. 

No wonder then, that Christian people, in order to 
remind one another of the generosity of God towards 
mankind, are in the habit of giving Christmas gifts 
to those who are dear and near to them. 

Brethren, my Christmas gift to you is Jesus of 
Bethlehem, of yesterday and to-day and forever. 
Bethlehem is right here upon the altar. There are 
the swaddling clothes, the simple, pure altar linens 
that enshroud the sacred species, the same Jesus who 
was laid in the manger of Bethlehem by his beloved 
mother. Thank God that I am a priest, your father 
in God, that can bring Jesus from heaven here upon 
this altar, for your spiritual and temporal welfare. 
Yes, I wish you a thousand merry Christmases, not 
only here but forever in heaven. 

But friends, let not this beautiful feast pass with¬ 
out giving more sincere and heartfelt thanks. 

43 





First to God, the Father, for sending Jesus in our 
midst, etc. 

To Jesus, our Saviour, for coming to us, etc. 

To the Blessed Virgin, his Mother, for bringing 
Jesus to us through her divine maternity. 

To holy Joseph, their protector their guardian, 
the spotless spouse of Mary. 


44 




^unbap tfje O^ctabe of C&rtetma* 


The reading is from the letter which St. Paul 
wrote to the Galatians. He says: “But when the 
fullness of the time was come God sent His Son.” 

The splendor, the grandeur and joy of Christmas 
are yet around us. We live in that bright light like 
the shepherds who were so astonished at the un¬ 
usual brightness, and therefore the Apostle writes 
to the first Christians when the fullness of time was 
come, God sent His Son. Let us try to appreciate 
this great gift and profit by it. 

God from all eternity knew all and planned all. 
God has appointed every detail of creation, as well 
as of Redemption. God in His eternal plan has 
taken into consideration His honor and glory—the 
general good of creation—and especially of man, 
whose nature He came to assume, and by assuming 
it to draw unto Himself the whole of creation. 

Christ has taught us that not a leaf shall fall from 
a tree, not a hair from our head, without the per- 

45 





mission of our heavenly father. So minutely does 
God know all and see all and ordain all, in His 
infinite and, therefore, infallible wisdom. 

Creation no doubt sprang into existence and 
time came with it just at the moment when God 
willed it to come, and the physical and moral crea¬ 
tions rolled on in time and with time, man by sin 
bringing ruin and destruction. 

Before creation was ever wrought by God’s power 
Redemption had been planned. In Paradise, where 
sin spoiled the beauty of creation, to sinful man, 
Redemption was promised, and what are years for 
God’s eternity, and God had decreed that when He 
promised it there would roll by thousands -of years 
before He would fulfill that promise. 

It is to this the Apostle refers when he says: 
When the fullness of time had come, the great chasm 
of time elapsing from the creation to the redemption 
had been filled by so many years or centuries just 
as God had planned it from all eternity. 

Now, says the Apostle, God sent His Son; in 
other words, the time has come and God fulfills His 
promise. God comes to us—a child is born unto us. 

Why, then, did the prophets and patriarchs pray 

46 




for the redeemer to ■come—to what purpose were all 
their prayers and supplications when God had de¬ 
termined to wait till the fullness of time? 

God planned and in that divine plan He took into 
consideration all the prayers and supplications of 
the past, and the fullness of time was determined by 
their requests. 

He planned for us to be brought into this world— 
not during the time of darkness, which preceded the 
sending of His Son—but in the fullness of time, 
when His divine Son would be in this world, so 
that we can enjoy the brilliant and unerring light 
for our minds and infallible guidance for our wills. 

We are the chosen ones of God. Prophets and 
patriarchs have longed for his day—and ‘they did 
not see it; but to us have been revealed the treasures 
and fullness of the divine light of God. 

By sending His Son into this world He gives us 
a divine model—the type of the elect. 

He gives us all the merits of that beloved Son. 

He places at our disposal through His infallible 
Church all the truth which His Father had com¬ 
manded Him to preach. 


47 




/ 


Through the powers which He conferred on that 
same Church. He regenerates us and gives super¬ 
natural strength through the Sacraments. 

So called trials and misfortunes become a source 
of merit and reward. 

He dwells amongst us by indwelling His Church, 
and especially by the perpetual presence upon our 
altars in the Holy Eucharist. 

He becomes practically one with us, raising our 
fallen nature unto His own—that of the God-man. 

Life becomes worth living as we follow His divine 
teaching and make use of all the means He has 
placed at our disposal. 

Therefore, in Christ, in the Son whom the Father 
sent, we have the greatest treasure or gift that God 
has ever given to us, and therefore—as St. Paul 
says—1 glory in Jesus Christ, all knowledge out¬ 
side of that of Christ is worthless. 

Therefore, brethren, the great effort of the Church 
in all her teachings and practices is to impress upon 
your minds and hearts, Christ Jesus, the Son whom 
the Father has sent in the fullness of time. 


48 





gear's ?^ap 


This day is a most favorable and appropriate oc¬ 
casion for you as pastor-father of your congregation 
to express your very best and heartfelt wishes for 
their spiritual and temporal welfare. Therefore, in 
a few well chosen words thank God for His many 
blessings and invoke His special blessing for the 
New Year for all your parishioners, especially those 
who have been so faithful in the past. 

On this day, where do you meet your people so 
dear to your heart? In the Church—at the foot of 
God’s altar. 

Review the past year—God’s blessings who in¬ 
spired the fervent and the generous—to enable me 
to make such and such improvements in the Church, 
the school, the parish house, to establish an asylum, 
hospital, whatever good was done. 

The spiritual welfare or standing of the parish: 
Last year so many hundreds or thousands—confes¬ 
sions, communions, novenas, Forty hours’ devo- 


49 





tion, mission, so many children made their first 
communion, so many received the Sacrament of 
Confirmation, so many children were baptized, so 
many young people were solemnly united in the 
holy bonds of matrimony. 

I cannot forget the few or many who died during 
the past year, whose remains we laid to rest in hal¬ 
lowed ground, and whose souls no doubt we followed 
beyond the grave by our prayers and the Holy Sac¬ 
rifice of the Mass. Let your deepest sympathy go 
forth to those who have lost a near or dear relative 
or friend. They have their New Year’s Day in 
heaven. 

Now, my most earnest thanks to God for all these 
great favors, but also my most fervent prayer goes 
up to-day to the throne of Goodness and Mercy, that 
the new year may be more fruitful in blessings 
and favors than the past has been. 

For many or most of you I have but one wish to 
express, namely, that you may persevere in the good 
and holy lives which you are leading—the good ex¬ 
ample you are giving—and in your generosity 
which you practice so liberally towards the Church 
and the good of the parish. 


50 




And here in the name of the congregation I re¬ 
turn public thanks to that generous, kind hearted 
gentleman or lady, whose name I need not mention, 
who donated (whatever it may be) for the Church 
or School. 

I return heartfelt thanks to my good people who 
were so punctually and steadily at mass on Sundays 
and holidays, who frequented the Sacraments so 
regularly, who are members—I mean practical mem¬ 
bers—of the Altar Society, of the league of the 
Sacred Heart, of the temperance society, etc. 

As St. Paul says, that those who serve at the altar, 
should live by it, I certainly return very sincere 
thanks to all my good people who paid their Church 
dues so regularly without being asked—who are 
ever ready to help their pastor or the Church when¬ 
ever there is need, and on this point, dear friends, 
let me say one word to-day. It is very disagree¬ 
able and distasteful to call for money at the altar 
of God. 

And to those of my people who are not doing 
their duty I must say, as their pastor, that I hope 
and pray they will change their ways, and become 
practical, zealous and generous members of the par- 
51 




ish. I do not wish to mention names, but I could 
single out in our midst individuals—nay, whole 
families, who are fervent exemplary members of this 
parish. Now to the slothful I say—join in with the 
good ones and follow their example. 

Join with me then to-day, in giving fervent 
thanks to God for the past year and in invoking 
new and greater blessings for this new year. 

An invocation or something like this: 

Father Almighty, the giver of all good gifts, ac¬ 
cept our most heartfelt thanks—mine and those of 
every member of this congregation. Their grateful 
hearts unite in one grand prayer of thanksgiving 
and love for all benefits and blessings which you 
bestowed upon them in the past. Send down spe¬ 
cial blessings, 0 Loving Master, upon my people, 
who have been so faithful and good during the past 
year; enlighten the minds and warm the hearts of 
all, especially of those who through ignorance or 
weakness have been negligent, that they may under¬ 
stand their duty and fulfill it. Amen. 


52 




Cf )t ojpipljanp 


The reading is from the Prophet Isaias. 

He says: “Arise, be enlightened, 0 Jerusalem, 
for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is 
risen upon thee.” 

The feast of to-day is the Christmas of the Gen¬ 
tiles—our forefathers in the faith. 

God led the Israelites through the desert by a col¬ 
umn of fire shining in the sky. At Bethlehem, the 
sky was lit up by a heavenly light, which shone 
around the shepherds and around the whole country; 
now a beautiful star in the sky guides and leads 
the three kings or wise men to the house in which 
Jesus was living. 

They recognize it as the star of the newly-born 
King—they follow it without hesitation, until it 
rests above the house in which Jesus was. 

Melchior, white and venerable with age, brought 
the gold. Baltazar, dark colored, brought the myrrh, 

53 





and Gaspar, the youngest of the three, brought 
frankincense. 

In these offerings they recognized Christ as God, 
by the offering of the incense; as Man by the offer¬ 
ing of the myrrh, and as King by the offering of 
gold. 

Their journey was very long and difficult, but the 
sight of that wonderful star—the inward call of 
God which kept up their courage and wish to see 
the new-born King—gave them strength to perse- 
vere. They did not want to slight the call of the 
new-born King. 

On their journey they certainly must have 
talked about that new-born King, and formed in 
their minds some idea of what they might expect to 
find when they would reach the place to which the 
star was guiding them. 

The star did not stand above a royal dwelling, 
but above an humble home—a home to which the 
Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph had taken the child. 

They enter and the whole city of Bethlehem is 
surprised to see wealthy kings with the servants and 
their gifts enter that house. The light that shone 

54 




on Christmas night frightened them, but when they 
saw that mysterious star approaching they were 
astonished and watched it carefully. They felt at 
the sight of the kings that the child dwelling in 
that house was no ordinary child, but must be of 
noble birth. 

The three kings enter—what do they see? A 
most beautiful young mother holding her babe, a 
man kneeling in prayer—they suppose him to be 
the father. No sign of royalty or wealth, but the 
appearance of the child and mother so overcome 
their feelings that they imitated holy Joseph and 
knelt and adored the child. They have come with 
gifts to adore Christ. 

That act of adoration brought to them the gift 
of faith and they recognized in Christ the Son of 
God. 

No wonder then that they opened their gifts and 
laid them at the feet of Jesus—as to a God, to a Man 
and to a King. 

How the Blessed Mother of Jesus thanks them— 
how St. Joseph thanked them. 

What a revelation to them. All worldly grand¬ 
eur is wanting, but silent and solemn and simple 

55 




is the scene before them. The simplicity and the 
absence of great style and fashion bring out in bold 
relief the beauty of that sweet babe and of its divine 
mother. How grand is Mother Church to hold up 
before us on this great feast so beautiful and soul 
stirring a scene. 

It teaches us that when God calls we should obey, 
no matter which obstacles or difficulties may stand 
in our way, and that God’s gifts are those of the 
supernatural order. The kings received the gifts 
of faith. Their minds were enlightened by a super¬ 
nal light—their wills and hearts were uplifted unto 
that Child. They looked beyond natural appear¬ 
ances and recognized the Child as the Son of God. 

Friends, Epiphany means to show, to manifest, to 
give testimony; the meaning applies so appropri¬ 
ately to this feast when Jesus made himself known 
to the three kings or Magi—that is, wise men. 

But Epiphany has not passed away for us. Do 
you see that little light? That lamp burning day 
and night here before the tabernacle is the Star of 
Bethlehem—the Star of the Tabernacle; the star that 
is lit whenever Jesus dw T ells in our churches. It tells 
that Jesus lives here and by His presence, under the 

56 




appearance of bread, manifests His divine presence 
and power—even more so to us than He did to the 
Magi. 

Here He stays day and night in the silence of 
the tabernacle, and we can come and adore Him and 
offer Him more precious and welcome gifts than 
gold, myrrh and frankincense, namely our minds, 
by our lively and convincing faith in Him. Our 
wills, by our perfect submission to Him, and our 
bodies, by making them as they should be—the liv¬ 
ing temples of God. 

Our minds, more precious to Him than gold; 
our wills, more dear to Him than frankincense, and 
our bodies, more valuable than myrrh. 

Let us give heartfelt thanks to Jesus, and appre¬ 
ciate His dwelling in our midst in the tabernacle— 
the true, the living and perpetual feast of Christmas 
and Epiphany. 


57 




if fast ^uniap lifter Oftptpfjanp 


I am reading to you from the letter which St. 
Paul wrote to the Romans. He says: “Be wise ac¬ 
cording as God hath divided to every one the meas¬ 
ure of faith.” 

Beloved ones in God: You remember how on last 
Epiphany day our forefathers received the faith— 
they heeded that divine call, and grew wise accord¬ 
ing to the wisdom of God, who enlightened their 
understanding and strengthened their will, and 
they lived holy lives in accordance to the gift of 
that faith. 

Like the Magi, God has called us to Him and has 
bestowed upon us that sublime gift by giving us 
life through the instrumentality of Catholic parents, 
letting us live now in the fullness of time as the 
great Apostle calls it. 

Now, let us be wise according to that gift of faith, 
for which we can never thank God sufficiently. 

58 




Think of it—born of Catholic parents, baptized 
into the Kingdom of God, the Church, when we 
were infants, trained by the instructions and good 
example of Catholic parents, brought by them to 
the Church. 

Yes, the Church near us—the priest of God at our 
disposal to instruct us—oh, the grace, oh, the meas¬ 
ure of the Catechism Class, and above all, the Cath¬ 
olic School. 

The Sacraments. What blessing came to us 
through the Sacrament of 

Penance, then our first Communion, the great 
Sacrament of Confirmation, Confession and Com¬ 
munion, the great and powerful means of restoring 
and keeping in our souls the grace of God, especially 
the gift of faith. 

The sacrifice of the mass on Sundays and holy 
days, the instructions and sermons, our Church So¬ 
cieties, our extra devotions, in Lent and Advent, 
in the beautiful month of May. Oh, the great 
measure of faith that is given to us, the great means 
at our disposal. Are we wise according to 'the meas¬ 
ure of that faith? 


59 




If a business man in the world would have so 
many good and favorable opportunities to grow 
prominent and wealthy and would neglect them 
all, what would we think and say about him and 
yet this is only for temporal advantages. 

Now ait our disposal we have the means, strong 
and powerful, that bring us supernatural and di¬ 
vine wisdom—true wisdom for this world as well 
as for the next. Are we wise according to that 
measure? 

The apostle teaches that God will hold us respon¬ 
sible according to the measure of our faith. What 
terrible responsibility we have. Do we realize this? 

Poor heathens and idolaters, who do not know 
any better, to whom the divine light and measure 
of faith have not been given so directly and clearly 
as to us, how we pity them. They grope in the 
darkness in reference to the Supernatural, but what 
excuse can we offer? 

Surrounded by all the blessings which Jesus has 
placed at our disposal through the Church and by 
our ministry, surely God has given us, we might say, 
the fullness of the measure of faith. 

Well God will require much of us and justly so. 

60 




Do you appreciate the Holy Sacrifice of the mass 
—by assisting when you can—or do you offer very 
foolish excuses to cover your want of appreciation and 
sloth. 

What use do you make of the Sacraments of 
Penance, of Holy Communion. 

What about your children, dear parents? What 
about instructing them, sending them to the school 
where they belong? Are you really wise according 
to the measure of the faith that God has given you? 

Our non-Catholic friends, see many of them so 
earnest, so anxious, so sincere—even those who hate 
and persecute the church through blind hatred,— 
might be excused, but there is no excuse for you 
whatsoever. 

Millions will never get the great blessings we have. 
Why not then appreciate those divine blessings and 
profit by it? 

By being wise according to the measure of faith 
which God has given us, we shall grow wiser and 
wiser. Our minds will be filled with heavenly wis¬ 
dom, life will be seen in the supernatural light of 
God and will be lived in the sublime grace or charity 
of Jesus Christ. 


ei 




^tconb ^utxbap fitter Cptpfjanp 


The reading to-day is taken from the history of 
what the apostles preached and did. It says: “By the 
name of our Lord Jesus Christ .... this man 
standeth before you whole.” 

St. Peter cured this man and when the vast mul¬ 
titude wondered and looked astonished, he informs 
them that it is by the name of Jesus that the mir¬ 
acle was wrought. 

Therefore God has given us this name as a most 
powerful means of obtaining favors—even miracles 
if necessary—for our temporal and spiritual welfare. 

We could speak for hours on the sublimity and 
efficacy of that holy name, but my friends, I am 
sorry to say, and God knows I speak the truth, that 
the holy name, I mean that of Jesus and of God, 
are not reverenced and respected in our midst and 
that there are so called Christians, I am afraid, even 
in my congregation, who are, I dare not say bad 
and malicious, but so forgetful as to abuse these 
all-saving names by cursing and swearing. 

62 





0, let the words of instruction which I speak to 
you to-day sink so deeply into your minds and 
hearts, that no one of us may ever be guilty of so 
mean, stupid and insulting a sin. 

How many false consciences are there amongst our 
people! They scruple about eating meat on for¬ 
bidden days, or even on Christmas when it falls on 
a Friday, or on some days when the Holy Father 
dispenses us from that obligation, or if they are 
sick, but they will curse and swear with the Holy 
names and insult God without seeming remorse. 

Bad, scandalous, and to be condemned by every¬ 
body is the sin of drunkenness, yet in itself, cursing, 
swearing with the Holy names of God, is far more 
heinous in itself and more insulting to God. 

The world looks a great deal to the exterior, but, as 
it is antagonistic to Chirst, it cares little for the 
honor and glory of God. 

Be very nice outwardly. 0, never let a sign of 
drink be seen on you, talk nice to people and you 
are a splendid man, no matter how insultingly you 
may talk to God. 


63 




It is a most stupid sin, for there is no satisfaction 
or benefit derived from it. Other sins bring along 
with them, at least some animal gratification—this 
none whatsoever. 

This sin turns the means of salvation into a cause 
of damnation, for respect to God is the foundation 
of religion. How can we worship God, if we do not 
respect him? How can we respect him, if we insult 
him by our blasphemous cursing? 

Again, the Holy names of God and Jesus are 
most powerful weapons in the time of temptation 
and dangers. Yet he who curses with them turns 
these powerful weapons into a cause of damnation. 

What about your children? When and from 
whom do they learn that ugly and insulting sin? Is 
it not from you, parents, who should teach your 
children to pray and to use these Holy names not 
in vain, but for divine protection. 

It is a sin which causes so much scandal, for 
children hear grown-up people curse, and they re¬ 
peat these curses so readily and get into the habit 
of cursing. 


64 




There is no excuse for that sin, for it is so vile, so 
degrading and so insulting to God. Do not say 
that you do it through habit and do not think of it, 
for the habit is worse than the sin itself and makes 
you more guilty in the sight of God. 

Never will God hear the prayers of people who 
curse and swear, for they are an abomination in the 
sight of God. 

How dare you come to Holy Communion and re¬ 
ceive our dear Lord upon that blasphemous tongue? 

Do you want to be saved? Do you want the 
blessing of God? Do you wish your prayers to be 
acceptable to God? Then remove from your midst, 
from your homes and from your lives that great 
sin which brings the curse of God upon you. 

Not only, do not curse yourself, but do not allow 
it in your presence. Just as you would not allow 
anyone to speak bad against or about or to your 
father or mother, allow no one to curse or swear 
in your presence. 

Do not allow them to pour out before you that 
disrespect and that insult to God, your father. 

65 




Rather let us use these Holy names, so power¬ 
ful, so efficacious, in the hour of prayer, of trial, of 
temptation, and God and Jesus will hear us and 
come to our assistance. 







'Cfrirti ^unbap Sifter 4£ptpfjanp 


St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, from which 
I read to you to-day, says: “Be not wise in your 
conceits, to no man rendering evil for evil .... not 
revenging yourselves, my dearly beloved.” 

Naturally the human soul loves justice. We ad¬ 
mire those who practice it, and we condemn those 
who injure their neighbor. But when an injustice 
is done to us, oh then, we do not think of justice 
or virtue, or sin, Oh, no—self comes to the front. 
The idea of injuring us! 

Unless we are careful then to mind what the 
Apostle says, we get so blind by our self-conceit and 
so rash in our actions, that we do not act like a 
human being. An animal is attacked, it springs 
back on its victim to devour it. 

In our own estimation, we should be allowed to 
say about others what we like, find fault, criticise. Of 
course we are perfect unto ourselves, but every one 
else should be perfect—our parents, our brothers 

67 





and sisters, our friends, our neighbors; add the whole 
world. 

They should respect us and honor us and be good 
to us, and they should never say a word against us. 
Woe to anyone that speaks an unkind word or does 
anything to injure us. 

Then self-conceit blinds us. Then we are aroused. 
Why, the idea, there is no sin or crime so terrible 
as to say such mean things against me, or do such 
things against me. Why, it is unpardonable—it 
is the worst thing I ever heard! Shame on them! 
Like a ferocious, blind, savage beast we are on the 
war-path. 

Oh, now is the time to get even, and even we will 
get. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 
We will even improve on this, and take the head 
for one eye. And the whole body for the other. 
Poor self has been hurt. 

Very often it is only an imaginary evil—very 
often what has been told us is not so—it has been 
misunderstood. Oh, we do not stop to think. Pray 
we cannot. Why, we are astonished that God ever 
allowed that wretch to say or do anything against 
us. 


68 





Poor conceited man or woman. They lie awake 
all night, thinking what they are going to say about, 
or do to that enemy. Wait till they meet him, they 
run to their relatives and neighbors. They talk, 
and nothing is too bad to say about their enemy. 
Why, they could kill him. How true the words 
of the Apostle. Rendering evil, real evil, often for 
imaginary evil. 

And what do we gain by all this self-conceit? 
We do not talk or act like human beings. We in¬ 
jure the health of our souls and bodies. We cause 
ourselves a great deal of trouble and anxiety. Yet 
to no purpose, for all we do, say, or wish, will not 
injure our enemy. 

Must I remind you of what I said a few Sundays 
ago? Brethren be wise according to the measure 
of your faith. Follow your faith and you will act 
like a Christian, a follower of Christ. Did he look 
for revenge? Follow your own conceit and you 
act like a heathen. Which is right? 

Who can count the number of rash judgments 
and evil wishes of which the self-conceited become 
guilty in the sight of God? And how unhappy 
they are. 


69 



Be calm for a moment,—think—would you or 
could you be a fair judge if your enemy were on 
trial? Can you judge them fairly as long as self 
is concerned? In our courts, no one who is a rela¬ 
tive, or a friend, or who is prejudiced for or against 
the one on trial is allowed to be on the jury—much 
less to be the judge. 

How could anyone on trial get a fair judgment 
if the judge were the offended party? We cannot 
expect such perfection in any human being. God 
alone can do this. But we, when offended, usurp 
judgment to ourselves. We want to fix the penalty. 
We want to carry out the sentence we gave in our 
self-conceit and see that it is carried out to the full 
extent. How blind—how rash. 

“Therefore, judgment is mine, saith the Lord.” 
Leave revenge to God. If we imitate Jesus Christ, 
God will take our part. He will do us full justice 
and punish our enemies as they deserve. 

Let us not sit in judgment upon our neighbor. 
Let not your enemies rob you of the peace of soul. 

Let us be Christians—not heathens. Has anyone 
offended you, return not evil for evil, but send a 

70 




fervent and sincere prayer to God for their welfare 
and if you axe a generous Christian, you will even 
ask God to bless them and protect them in imitation 
of Jesus Christ—conquering self—destroying self- 
conceit—like a true Christian. 


71 




Jfourtf) ^unliap after Cptpfjanp 


The reading is from the letter of St. Paul to the 
Romans: “Brethren, owe no man anything.” 

Let me call your close attention to these words 
of the Apostle. Owe no man anything. I want 
all of my people to be able to look honestly into 
their consciences and be able to say before God that 
they are strictly just and honest and as such that 
they owe no man anything. 

This consideration is very important. We are 
apt to forget this great obligation to our neighbor 
and deaden the voice of our conscience. 

We are always on the lookout for ourselves. We 
do not want to be in need of anything. We are 
very particular about ourselves and if we have not 
readily at hand what we like, we are apt to get it 
from our neighbor. We borrow, perhaps we take 
it from him. We grow wise in business methods 
and in our dealings with our neighbor, we become 
guilty of injustice. We are very ready to borrow, 

72 





but very slow and neglectful in returning. We get 
things from our neighbor underhand. Of course 
we mean to return them and now we act unjustly 
in our dealings, our conscience is asleep. Of course 
some time or other we will make up, but practically 
we never make up. 

Now all these things are simply wrong and un¬ 
just and it is my duty to call your attention to 
these things, for as long as you have in your posses¬ 
sion anything that does not belong to you, God will 
not bless you and if you die, you will never see 
heaven until the last penny, the gospel says farthing, 
shall be paid. 

How easy it is to get ahead of our neighbors. 
Some scruple not if they get too much change. If 
on their book the grocer or butcher does not mark 
the goods bought. Not to pay rent—to leave with¬ 
out paying it. Neglect doctor bills, drug bills, never 
pay a cent to the church, though we could easily do 
it, to cheat insurance companies—by burning in¬ 
sured buildings or barns, cheating railroad compan¬ 
ies by not paying our fare as we should, by cheating 
in buying or selling, by not paying for our meals 
or boarding in hotels and in a thousand other ways. 

73 




Now all such things are unjust, and if we do not 
make restitution we are living an unjust life and if 
we die in that unjust state, we will not be admitted 
into heaven unless restitution is made. 

This is a very important law of God, as he has 
taught it himself, that nothing defiled shall enter 
heaven. 

We should calmly, not nervously or scrupulously, 
examine our consciences about our past lives and 
if we see that we have been wanting in this im¬ 
portant law of God, let us not delay, hut make resti¬ 
tution as soon as possible, that is, part with what does 
not belong to us and lead a pure life. 

Let us not flatter or deceive ourselves that we do 
not know just exactly how much it is—that it is 
so many years ago since it happened that we do not 
know the owners, that others injured us, that we 
would have to live more economically, that we would 
be poor if we made restitution, for all these are vain 
and foolish excuses which do not and cannot take 
away the obligation of restoring. 

Postponing to make restitution is one of the 
greatest dangers to our salvation. Oh, we mean well, 

74 




but meaning well does not save us. We must fulfill 
our obligations to God and to the neighbor. 

The devil, our arch enemy, is very anxious to 
keep us owing to others, for he knows our strong 
inclination to hold on to what we have, justly or un¬ 
justly, and deceives us by making us believe that 
we will make restitution some time or other, later 
on, when we will have more to spare, when we can 
afford it, but that now we need it, that we do not 
intend to keep what does not belong to us, but for 
the time being we 'cannot do it conveniently and 
so life passes on and death comes and many are 
lost on that account and a great many have to suffer 
and are deprived of heaven until restitution is made. 

In several cases, when the father or husband dies, 
and leaves all he has to his wife or children, they 
become responsible for his just debts. Let them 
not flatter themselves or rest secure about the eternal 
welfare of that soul until these just debts are paid. 

Here is another very important consideration. I 
would advise every one of you not to rely on rela¬ 
tives or friends to make restitution for you, after 
your death. How very few are there who will ful¬ 
fill this strict obligation for you when you are dead 
75 




and gone! If you neglected it, may they not neglect 
it and excuse themselves by saying that the debt is 
not theirs but yours. 

Now, brethren, if I did not call your attention 
to this important lesson of the Apostle: “Owe no man 
anything,” I would not do my duty. 

And I must warn you very strongly to teach your 
children to be strictly just, by word and especially 
by example. 

Parents are very much to blame who encourage 
their children to steal wood or coal or anything else 
from neighbors, or railroads, or who do not punish 
their children and force them to take back anything 
which they bring home and which they got unjustly. 

Let'us be very careful about the law of justice 
and if you have transgressed it, delay not, make 
restitution at once, that is, as soon as possible. If 
you have any doubt whether you are bound to make 
restitution or not, or how to make it, ask your con¬ 
fessor and follow his advice. 

As our dear Lord said, “Let not the sun set upon 
your injustice.” Put your conscience at rest and 
observe the solemn warning of the great Apostle: 
“Brethren, owe no man anything.” 

76 




ifttti) ^unbap Sifter Cpipftattp 


The reading to-day is from the letter of St. Paul 
to the Colossians. He says: “And forgiving one an¬ 
other.” 

Not long ago I told you to mind the words of the 
great Apostle and never to do evil for evil. Today 
he tells us to go further and forgive one another. 
This commandment of the great law of Christian 
Charity is very important, for upon our forgiving 
one another depends our being forgiven by Almighty 
God. 

Did you take special notice of the words of the 
reading to-day? The Apostle says: “Put ye on, there¬ 
fore, as the elect of God, the bowels of mercy, bearing 
with one another .... If any have a complaint 
against another, even as the Lord hath forgiven 
you, so do you also.” 

Understand it. The Apostle calls those who for¬ 
give, the elect, that is, the chosen ones of God. 
When we have a real complaint, not an imaginary 

77 





one, against our neighbor, then he adds, even for¬ 
giving, not merely bearing with one another. And 
how should we forgive, even as the “Lord hath for¬ 
given you.” 

Here the Apostle again only repeats the doctrine 
of Jesus, for the Saviour himself has preached it. 
My father will not forgive unless you forgive one an¬ 
other. From these divine words you should realize 
that forgiveness is necessary for salvation. 

Forgiveness is a subject which is indeed very 
simple and easy in itself, but it is not understood 
by the majority of people. 

No one objects when we talk to them about loving 
God, honoring Him and worshipping Him and giv¬ 
ing thanks, but the moment we come to apply the 
precept of loving the neighbor, then our self-love 
immediately comes to blind us, we all at once dis¬ 
cover faults and shortcomings. But when we preach 
that we must love our enimies, those who injured 
us, by forgiving them whatever they may have done 
against us; Oh, we draw back, we think it simply 
beyond human power and we imagine the law of 
God commanding us impossible things. 

78 





There is our great mistake. God does not ask the 
impossible or anything above our strength. He 
knows us too well. 

Well what does he ask? To forgive one another, 
that is, as the Apostle says, when we have a com¬ 
plaint against our neighbor, on account of some 
real, not imaginary evil, otherwise we cannot forgive, 
unless there is an offense; is to think and act towards 
those who have offended us as if they did not offend 
us. 

But look at the motive. Should we forgive and 
think about and act towards those who offended us, 
because they did wrong, because they offended us? 
Oh, no, that is impossible and above all human 
power. God himself cannot and will not forgive, 
because people offend Him. That is simply absurd. 

But we must forgive and can easily forgive, for 
the sake of God, because He asks us to forgive for 
His sake. Is this not easy? Does it not offer us a 
splendid chance of pleasing God and overcoming 
ourselves and imitating the example of our dear 
Lord? 

To forgive an enemy is a noble Christian act, a 
divine act, a self-conquest—the grandest victory we 


79 




can possibly gain in this world and a most sure 
means of securing pardon or forgiveness for our 
sins. 

Understand me well. Feeling has little to do with 
this. Whether a friend or an enemy cuts me I feel 
it just the same, but the thought of cutting back 
and not forgiving, there is the sin. 

We may cry, we may feel like revenging ourselves 
and almost kill the one who injured us. There is no 
sin, these feelings are the natural tendency of a 
poor, weak human nature, but to rise above that 
feeling and not to act through it, but for God’s 
sake, to follow Christ and forgive is the true sign of 
a follower of Jesus Christ. 

Saint or sinner, you must forgive one another. 
You cannot be a saint, that is, a follower of Jesus 
Christ, to be like our Lord, unless you forgive, and 
if you are a sinner, the best and easiest way to be¬ 
come a good Christian is to forgive. 

The whole trouble with us is we think too much 
of self. We don’t care whether God is offended or 
our neighbors or friends, as long as we are not hurt 
80 




we do not care. But let them touch us, and self is 
aroused and we want revenge and we cannot and 
will not forgive. 

Consider how noble it is to forgive for the sake 
of Jesus Christ. What are we but poor, sinful crea¬ 
tures and if anyone offends us, especially through 
thoughtlessness, or forgetfulness, or passion, let us 
rise above our feelings and in imitation of our Lord, 
forgive for His sake. 

The true Christian has no enemies. Remember¬ 
ing Jesus Christ, when dying on the cross, who said: 
“Father forgive them” (those who had just crucified 
Him, as well as those who stood under the cross, re¬ 
viling Him) “for they know not what they do.” 

Brethren, forgive. Is there anyone here who has 
not forgiven his brother, his friend, or his neighbor? 
Remove from your heart that hardness, that un¬ 
charitableness and spirit of revenge and speak the 
word of forgiveness. As Jesus forgives me, so I for¬ 
give you for His sake. 


81 





^uttbap Sifter <£ptp&anp 


Let me read to you the beautiful letter of St. Paul 
to the Thessalonians. Please give special attention 
to it. 

Oh, my dearly beloved in Jesus Christ, how I 
do wish that I, as your pastor, could say of you 
what the great Apostle says of his flock, the Thes¬ 
salonians: “I give thanks to God always for you, 
being mindful of the work of your faith, and labor 
and charity, for our gospel hath not been unto you 
in word only and you became followers of us and of 
the Lord, so that you were made a pattern to all 
who believe.” 

How happy would I be this morning if from my 
heart I could sincerely say to you and of you what 
the Apostle said to his people. 

Like a good, loving father who reflects and thinks 
about and prays for the welfare of his children, so 
I, your pastor, think of you. In my prayers you are 
before me and when in moments of deep reflection 
82 





I go over the different families which belong to my 
congregation, how do I rejoice, for I find amongst 
them persons and in many instances whole families 
who are good, a credit to the congregation and to 
the Church. To these I do apply the very words 
of the Apostle—which I read to you—and many 
more of his beautiful sayings as he wrote to the 
first Christians. You are my joy and my consola¬ 
tion, my crown. Yes, you bring me great joy, it is 
a consolation to be with you and to speak to you 
and to celebrate mass for you. You, by your good 
works and good example, you crown with success the 
good work of Christ, which I am endeavoring to 
perform for your and my welfare. 

But there are others amongst you, and I would be¬ 
lie my work and deceive you if I were to say that 
these are good and exemplary, that they are a source 
of joy and consolation and that they crown my min¬ 
isterial work by following the advice I have to give 
them and do give them. 

Please understand this well—that the anxiety 
which I feel for you is heartfelt; that I am most anx¬ 
ious to remove from my congregation anything sin¬ 
ful or faulty, and for the sake of our Lord and His 

83 


/ 




holy Church, that all my prayers and desires are to 
see you all perfect in every respect. 

At times it does happen that I hear a complaint 
about some of you; well, it pains me very much, 
and when at times I visit another congregation and 
see them so good and attentive and fervent, I cannot 
help making comparisons. I return with greater 
joy or grief as I find that you, beloved, show more 
faith and fervor than, or are inferior to, the other 
congregation. 

My whole life is given to your spiritual, and even, 
if possible in any way, to your temporal welfare. 
Judge, then, of the joy or sorrow caused to me, by 
your good lives or your slothful way of acting. 

Why should this be? I cannot find any reason 
in the Gospel I preach, for that is not mine. What 
we say to you is the Gospel as Christ preached it, 
and the Apostles repeated it and so do I to the best 
of my ability. 

It cannot be the grace of God which is wanting, 
for at all times God’s grace is sufficient and gen¬ 
erally superabundant. 


84 




The good and practical members of the congrega¬ 
tion do not receive more than the slothful. Do you 
not see that the fault lies with yourself? You 
neglect the grace of God. “You do not become 
followers of us and of the Lord.” You do not re¬ 
ceive the word with joy, so that you may be a pat¬ 
tern to others, but you neglect to hear the word; 
you neglect the graces that God holds out to you, 
and hence you follow not the word, but follow your 
natural slothfulness—your ease and bodily comfort 
—and you are not a pattern, but a stumbling-block 
to those outside of our faith, and a scandal to the 
other members of the Church. 

Can I say to you this morning the sublime words 
of the Apostle: “Your faith which is towards God 
is gone forth, so that we need not to speak anything. 
You turned to God from idols, to serve the living 
and true God.” 

Do you think if St. Paul were your pastor here, 
that he would say these words to those of this con¬ 
gregation who are so careless and negligent? 

I say he would rejoice in seeing my good people 
and speak to them the eloquent words he spoke to 
the first Christians, but to the slothful he would say 

85 




the reverse: You turned away from God to serve 
idols—that means, you have forgotten God and His 
law; you have idolized your evil propensities by 
losing the grace of God by 'the neglect of your 
Church. 

Let the words of the Apostle which I have tried 
to explain to you make a lasting impression on your 
minds and hearts—turn away from all sloth and 
indifference; give glory to God and honor to the 
Church and to me, as your pastor, joy and 'consola¬ 
tion. Let me see so great and clear a change in all 
those who need it that I can conscientiously say to 
God, to myself, to all my brother priests, to my 
congregation, that you, my dear ones in God, are a 
model, a pattern to all. 




^eptuageatma ^unbap 


I have chosen the following words from the letter 
of St. Paul to the Corinthians: “I therefore so run, 
not as at an uncertainty; so run that you may ob¬ 
tain.” 

What an important advice the great Apostle give3 
us to-day. We all live for some object; we all run 
in the race as the Apostle tells us—some to obtain 
a corruptible crown or reward, others the incorrupti¬ 
ble. 

How all our newspapers, and very many pamph¬ 
lets sent us, speak so eloquently about investing 
money in mines and lands of every description. 
How, if we have any money laid by, or even if we 
could sell land or other goods we become interested, 
and begin to think seriously of investing or taking 
stock. 

Now, my dear friends, suppose this morning that 
I were to tell you from very reliable and sure in¬ 
formation that there is a country, just discovered, 

87 




abounding in treasures, in which the pure gold and 
glistening diamonds in their native rock can be 
found and worked at little or no cost. Would you 
not listen attentively? Would you not be very 
much interested? Would you not call on me and 
find out every particular, and if you had some 
means, wouldn’t you invest and even run some risk? 

Oh, the glitter of that great fortune; oh, the 
golden stores of wealth heaped up before us in that 
distant land. Our imagination would grow T wild; 
our prospects so grand, the enterprise easy. Why, we 
must try it at any cost. 

But our friends, our relatives, our homes—well, 
we would be willing to shed a parting tear, to give 
the farewell kiss, for, of course, it would only be 
for a few years, and then we would return laden 
with wealth. We could deck our loved ones with 
diamonds set in virgin gold, and dress them in the 
finest silk. We would build for magnificence and 
comfort. 0, the happy days we would then live. 

And all this (0, but wait; are you sure to suc¬ 
ceed—for many make the attempt and perish in it) 
to secure a corruptible crown; wearing away our 

S8 




life’s best efforts, running, as the Apostle says, as 
at an uncertainty. 

Look at the world at large. See its rush and 
commotion—nearly every one on the go, not even 
to ge>t so large a fortune as I have been telling you 
about, but to gather and lay by a few paltry dollars. 

How they toil, how they labor from morning till 
night—foregoing even the home comforts, ever 
busy to think of new schemes, how to succeed in 
business—a corruptible crown, says the Apostle, for 
money passes from one hand to the other, and at 
the hour of death we must leave it all. 

What would the world say if we were to encircle 
the bed of a dying man, or his corpse after death, 
with pieces of silver and gold? Wouldn’t that be 
folly? And yet why live for it? 

Now, friends, reflect. Am I addressing Chris¬ 
tians? Have you been baptized—that is, reborn of 
Christ and in Christ? Have you become an heir 
and coheir of Jesus Christ? Do you ever expect to 
reach heaven—to obtain with certainty that incor¬ 
ruptible crown of which the Apostle speaks? 

Here is a positive and infallible announcement 
which I must make to you in the name of God, who 



will not and cannot deceive you. I make it to-day 
in the burning words of St. Paul: “Brethren, so 
run that you may obtain”—what? Heaven, the 
abode of rest and peace; the great country where 
not perishable, but everlasting wealth and riches are 
enjoyed for ever. There can be no risk or no mis¬ 
take about this, for we have it upon the authority of 
Jesus Christ—of all His Apostles and followers. 

Think you that all the Apostles and doctors of the 
Church, and all the holy-lived people, the millions 
of martyrs and all the saints of God, gave up this 
world and led lives of penance, and gave up their 
very lives as witnesses of that promise, were all mis¬ 
taken and ran as to an uncertainty? Impossible! 
The greatest intellects and the most brilliant men 
and women have followed the words of Christ and 
of the Apostles, running to a certainty, with the 
full conviction of the testimony of Jesus Christ and 
His Apostles. 

In life, men and women risk money and health. 
Why? Oh, because they heard so much about that 
land and the mines and the wealth, and yet there 
is no certainty. It is probable it looks very en¬ 
ticing. But here stands the masterpiece of God's 
goodness and truth to man, His divine Church, es- 

90 




tablished by Himself to preach unerringly, to lead 
men unto the incorruptible crown, to show us the 
way, to give us the means, to guide and help us in 
the obtaining of the everlasting treasures of heaven, 
the great country where wealth and happiness are 
so superabundant that the divine witness who came 
to tell us about it said: “Eye hath not seen,” etc. 

Do you not see, beloved ones, what we should 
learn from the words which Mother Church speaks 
to us to-day through our ministry? 

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice 
and all other things shall be given unto you. 

One thing is necessary—save your soul at any 
cost and let nothing in this world interfere with 
that great and only necessary work. 

Brethren, so run as to obtain the crown of im¬ 
mortality. Is not this worth more than all the 
wealth and pleasure of this world? Do we do as 
much to obtain this eternal happiness as we do to 
obtain the passing things of the world? Brethren, 
let us repeat it: So run as to obtain the incorrupti¬ 
ble crown. 


91 




^exagestma ^unbap 


I take for the subject of our instruction to-day the 
beautiful words which the Lord spoke to St. Paul. 
“My grace is sufficient for thee.” 

Do not expect me to-day to unravel or explain the 
wonderful things the Apostle speaks of—his reve¬ 
lations. He being taken up to the third heaven and 
seeing things no man can utter. We can admire 
such things, but we do not need them for our guid¬ 
ance and salvation, for remember the words just 
quoted: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” 

But, dear friends, I want to explain clearly to 
you, to be reasonable in the service you offer to God, 
and to be guided by the teachings of the Church, 
and not to be lead astray or influenced by wonder¬ 
ful and extraordinary things which happen, unless 
the Church gives her sanction to it. 

Understand me well. Far be it from me to con¬ 
demn or criticise, to oppose or to find fault with, so 
many nice practices—such as pilgrimages, as 

92 





shrines, seemingly miraculous, a thousand forms 
of expressing devotion to our dear Jesus—such 
as special devotion to the babe of Bethlehem, 
the holy face, the heart of Jesus represented by it¬ 
self, the beautiful infant of Prague—too many to 
mention, the thousands of shrines in honor of the 
Blessed Virgin, under every shape and form imagin¬ 
able, and many more shrines sacred to the memory 
and veneration to millions of saints of God. These 
are all very nice, but in worshipping thus and visit¬ 
ing at all those shrines, I want you to remember 
that they are so many various ways of expressing 
our true devotion to God through these means—one 
word will explain it to you. The only real and 
genuine shrine about which there can he no mis¬ 
take standing with the word of Jesus Himself and 
with the infallible sanction of the Church is, Jesus 
in -the tabernacle. And unless statues and devotions 
and shrines, no matter under what form or shape, 
bring us nearer to Christ, or rather should they di¬ 
rect our attention or worship from Him, they do us 
harm. 

So it is, my beloved friends, with the books which 
lay claim to be the lives of the saints. What fine 
and instructive reading. Oh, I do expect you to read 

93 



them, but remember that many things are related, 
especially those extraordinary wonders which are not 
really the source of the holiness of the saint, which 
I suppose are true, but still which, although we may 
admire them, should not form the basis of our lives, 
for the Church has never taught these things, and 
whether true or not, the facts related contain noth¬ 
ing against faith or morals. 

Now in reading these books, just as when we honor 
Christ or His saints or go to shrines, let us not look 
for the extraordinary, but see in all these things a 
variety of ways in which to honor God. 

If by close research we should find out that many 
things related in the lives of the saints, or so-called 
miraculous doings at shrines or in pilgrimages are 
not so, this would not interfere with the sanctity of 
the saints nor with the worship which people give to 
Christ or His blessed Mother or the saints, but if we 
are careful to await the sanction of the Church and 
follow her dogmatic teaching (and let me mention 
to you the family spirit of correct Christian faith, 
it is called sometimes the Catholic instinct, a safe 
feeling naturally arising in the minds and hearts 
of the properly instructed and practical Catholics. 
I will speak to you about it later on.) We shall 

94 




first and foremost take the faith in its fullness from 
the Church and make it the anchor of our mind 
and knowledge and faithfully practice what the 
Church holds as absolutely certain and solid; then 
for the rest, respect all forms of devotion or outward 
expressions of worship, especially when the ordinary 
Church authorities permit it, but in all faith and 
practice never overlook the essential. 

Shall 1 make my meaning so clear that there will 
be no room for misunderstanding? For instance, 
if I firmly believe in Jesus Christ as the great and 
true model of all perfection, from whom at best all 
saints, the Blessed Mother included, must learn to 
be holy and saintly; if I am thoroughly convinced 
that Jesus is in the tabernacle, really and truly, then 
my best prayers and deepest reverence will be at the 
foot of the altar upon which Jesus dwells. 

If I go before the statue of the Sacred Heart, the 
nicely dressed infant of Prague, the holy face pic¬ 
ture, and even the crucifix; if I forget that they are 
only representations, I overlook the essential; if I 
kneel and venerate, and adore—not the representa¬ 
tion, but the reality—and make use of the repre¬ 
sentation to bring the living Jesus nearer to me, 
whether that picture was or is miraculous or not, I 

95 




am worshipping as a true Catholic. And yet I re¬ 
peat, give me every time the tabernacle in which 
Jesus dwells. 

What are visions and special revelations, even 
miracles ? Do you remember that Judas fed the 
multitude with the other Apostles and the bread 
multiplied in his hands in the same way as it did in 
the hands of the other Apostles. 

St. Paul, as he tells us to-day, had wonderful vis¬ 
ions. May they not be to some a source or occasion 
of danger; may they not be false and delusive? Oh, 
brethren, God’s grace, as it is unmistakably given to 
our minds and hearts by the Church, is sufficient 
for us. 

From many shrines, so called, water is sent all 
over the world to effect cures, and from all reports 
wonderful things have happened, but, friends, do 
you think that the Mother of God or saints will ask 
Jesus to cure you by drinking of the so-called mir¬ 
aculous water if you neglect to receive Jesus Him¬ 
self in Holy Communion? Here is a clear fact: 
People say the water is miraculous. Let us say, it 
may be, but the Church says: You receive Jesus 
Christ when you go to Communion. How secure, 

, 96 






how safe. Well, I will then receive Jesus first, and 
if He, through the intercession of any saint wishes 
to cure me, all right; I trust in Him. 

Friends, be intelligent in the practice of your 
faith; follow the Church in ali her doctrines and 
practices; let them be your guide, and never find 
fault or criticise any practice, but do not let them 
take the place of or interfere with the essentials. 
“My grace is sufficient to thee.” 


97 




a&utnquage£tma 


St. Paul wrote to them one of his most beautiful 
and instructive letters. I just read it to you. It 
was addressed to the Corinthians. 

You must have noticed nearly every Sunday, as 
I read to you some parts of the letters which the 
Apostles wrote to the first Christians, that they al¬ 
ways refer to charity, to the love we owe one another 
as children of our Father, God, who is in heaven, 
for the sake of Jesus Christ, who loved us so much 
as to give His life for us. 

But to-day he takes charity as the principal sub¬ 
ject of his letter or instruction, which he sent to his 
beloved children in God. 

Now, my dear friends, I would not dare think 
that I could speak to you to-day as he, the inspired 
Apostle, spoke to them. 

And yet charity is the sublime, the ennobling 
virtue—never can anything be said too lofty 
about it. 





Hear again the great words: “If I speak with the 
tongues of men and of amgels.” Dear people, what is 
oratory, eloquence, soul-stirring, burning words, 
which the greatest speakers ever spoke? Why call 
down from heaven the angels of God, like Gabriel, 
who spoke so beautifully and respectfully to our 
Blessed Lady on the day of the Annunciation? 
Bring all human and angelic powers of speech. Let 
our voice reach the farthest ends of the earth; let 
our speech please and flatter, and hold you all spell¬ 
bound—but -charity is wanting. If it is not the 
charity of God and the neighbor that prompts our 
words—what is it, then? Sounding brass. 

Look at the divine gift of prophecy. God Al¬ 
mighty revealing to us the unknown and hidden 
future—yes, the mind may be brilliant and far- 
seeing ; it may be lit up by the divine light of future 
knowledge, and still if the heart does not possess 
charity, prophecy is nothing. 

Oh, but we may possess the -deepest intellect and 
with God’s power know all mysteries, and specially 
gifted acquire all knowledge; furthermore, my mind 
might hold faith so strong as to remove mountains. 
Without charity it is nothing. 

99 


LOf (X 




No good works are of any supernatural merit 
without charity. It is the necessary condition with¬ 
out which we cannot possibly please God, which 
are the unmistakable marks of charity, that sub¬ 
lime, that divine virtue—the touchstone which 
turns our smallest and most insignificant actions 
into pure virgin gold. 

For we could go on for ever extolling the praises 
of charity and yet never do justice to it. Remem¬ 
ber that it is necessary for us to understand the 
practice of charity, and most necessary for salva¬ 
tion. 

It is not a natural virtue; it does not come from 
an amiable or quiet or gentle disposition; a ready 
way of getting along with people—a nature which 
does good to those who are good to us. All these 
gifts are only so many natural helps which make the 
practice of charity easy, but it is essentially a super¬ 
natural and divine virtue which rises by the grace 
of God to the sublime and supernal. 

As God is our Father, the Father of every human 
being, Christ our model independently of what peo¬ 
ple say or do—charity divine and supernatural 
means to overcome myself and sacrifice myself for 
100 




the good and welfare of others—that is, first to those 
at home, then to relatives, friends, neighbors, to all, 
so that wherever there is a human soul, my charity 
reaches it, for God’s sake, and in 'imitation of Jesus 
Christ, my model. 

Charity is the arch enemy of the greatest obstacle 
to our salvation—self-love. 

Charity never faileth. Faith and hope will cease 
at the hour of death; charity is then made perfect. 

Charity is so ingenious—Charity finds a way 
where all other virtues fail. 

It is so patient, so considerate, knowing as we do, 
that we are far from being perfect ourselves. Charity 
is forebearing and never will expect from others 
what we are not ourselves. 

Charity will take the cloak of self-love from our 
own self and cover it with the faults and shortcom¬ 
ings of the neighbor and for the sake of God not 
only excuse the neighbor but love him. 

Now, dear brethren, only he who practices this 
sublime virtue is heroic—is a true Christian, sacri¬ 
ficing self for the good of others in imitation of 
Jesus Christ, who said: “By this they shall know 
that you are mine if you love another.” 

101 





3L&\) ©etmesitiap 


Holy Mother Church to-day tells me to read to 
you from the prophet Joel. I must call your at¬ 
tention to the words, which he preached to those 
who were awaiting the coming of Christ: “Be con¬ 
verted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in 
weeping and in mourning.” Every word of that 
reading is so appropriate to this holy season of Lent 
which we are beginning to-day. 

All over the Christian world to-day the Church 
tells her priests to bless ashes and sign your fore¬ 
head with them in the form of a cross, speaking the 
prophetic words, which have been verified for mil¬ 
lions and will come true in our case—“Remember, 
man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shall 
return.” 

Mother Church who regenerated us in Jesus 
Christ—who gave us the supernatural life, guided 
by the wisdom of God—calls upon us, telling us 
this is the acceptable time, to turn to God, to be 
converted, to fast and weep and mourn as Jesus 
102 





said: “Blessed are they that weep; blessed are they 
that mourn.” 

Thank God that every year the season of Lent 
comes around. I thank God especially for this 
year’s Lent, for, brethren, I expect great spiritual 
fruit, true, sincere conversion for those who have 
been negligent, and the higher sanctification for 
those who have been faithful. 

Lent, the great season of the year to do penance, 
when the whole Christian world redoubles prayers, 
gathers more frequently in the church to hear the 
word of God, to serve God more fervently, when 
from the Holy Father upon the chair of Peter down 
to the youngest Christian child which has come to 
the age of reason, are all uniting in prayer and prac¬ 
tices of self-restraint and abstinence, is it not 
truly, in the words of the prophet, the acceptable 
time? 

During this holy season God gives grace more 
abundantly, because He sees not one or a few indi¬ 
viduals praying and practicing extraordinary acts of 
penance, but the whole Church, with all her of¬ 
ficials, with her thousands of priests and religions, 
with her millions of the laity, all in one accord, 


103 





calling upon God for mercy and forgiveness, doing 
penance in order that their prayers may be more 
efficacious. 

Shouldn’t I therefore join with that army of the 
Church and exhort you, my dear ones, in Christ to 
enter into the spirit of this holy season? 

I will read you, as I read to you last Sunday, the 
regulations of Lent. Observe them as well and 
punctually as you can, showing thereby your sub¬ 
mission and obedience to the expressed laws of the 
Church, for he who will not hear the Church, etc. 

Now, brethren, let not self-love blind you. The 
spirit of Lent means to conquer yourself, to subdue 
your passions, which perhaps have had the mastery 
over you; to root sin out of your hearts, as the 
prophet says, be converted to God with your whole 
heart. 

Therefore, do not be satisfied with selecting some 
practice during Lent, and as soon as Lent is over 
return to your former way of living—for instance, 
you will not drink a drop during Lent; you will not 
smoke; you will not eat flesh meat; you will ab¬ 
stain from candy or some luxury in which you are 
accustomed to indulge. All these things are praise- 
104 




worthy and to be recommended, but all these prac¬ 
tices will not help you, or help you very little, unless 
you stop your indifference and sloth or sin. 

Let me suggest some practices: Do not sometimes 
miss mass on Sundays when you should hear 
it; make the firm resolve not -to miss during Lent in 
order to correct that sinful habit. I say the same 
of cursing, of swearing, of neglecting to frequent the 
Sacraments, of hard language or conduct at home, 
and of giving scandal, of uncharitable talk. Now 
make your resolutions about such things, and then 
add your other chosen penances as a means to ob¬ 
tain the grace of God to change your sinful lives. 
Rend your hearts and not your garments, says the 
prophet. 

The law of the Church asks of us, and the 
spirit of the Church guides us during this holy sea¬ 
son to abstain from not only all sinful or dangerous 
indulgences or gratifications or amusements, but to 
abstain, through the true spirit of penance, from 
lawful amusements and entertainments. A good, 
exemplary Catholic will not go in Lent to balls. I 
do not mean public balls, which are always danger¬ 
ous, but even to private parties, to theaters, to con¬ 
certs, great banquets, though there is no wrong, yet 
105 






to attend all such gatherings is not in keeping with 
the spirit of the Catholic Church. During this holy 
season she calls upon us to return to the Church and 
our homes, and in spirit to follow Jesus, our model, 
into the desert when he fasted and prayed for forty 
days. As St. Paul says, there is a time for rejoic¬ 
ing and feasting, but there is also a time to pray 
and to mourn. Friends, I leave it to you now to 
judge—how we should spend this holy season, and 
the Holy Ghost will guide you, and I hope you will 
follow His holy inspiration. 


106 




JFwtft ^unbap of Hent 


St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians in the letter 
which he wrote to them and which I have just read 
to you: “That jrou receive not the grace of God in 
vain. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, 
now is the day of salvation.” 

At all times God gives grace sufficient for our 
salvation, for as He created us for heaven, he must 
place at our disposal the means to reach heaven, 
otherwise he would make our salvation impossible. 

This becomes still clearer by the words he spoke. 
Without me you can do nothing, so that we need 
the assistance of God through Christ in order to be 
saved. 

But there are special times or occasions of grace 
when God dispenses more favors than at ordinary 
times. On great festivals the Church opens her 
treasury more widely, and those who apply to her 
she enriches with greater treasures; such, friends, 
is the time of Lent, the acceptable time, the time 
of salvation. 


107 





The object of my prayers, especially in the holy 
sacrifice of Mass, the earnest wish of my priestly 
heart is for your special welfare during this holy 
season, so that you may profit by the special graces 
and powerful means of salvation which holy Mother 
Church dispenses during this holy season. 

Lent is the best season of the year for retirement 
from the world, from all its amusements, the spe¬ 
cial time of recollection, prayer, examination of 
conscience. 

Every year religious and priests are accustomed 
to withdraw even from their priestly functions or 
ordinary religious exercises to give their whole mind 
and soul to prayer, to special reflections, to enter 
•into their consciences and examine themselves care¬ 
fully, how they stand in relation to God. It is 
called a retreat, retiring as it were from the world 
to think of and speak solely to God. 

At times we have a mission. It is, properly speak¬ 
ing, a retreat for the congregation, and it is certainly 
a special time of great graces and spiritual blessings, 
but let me say to you that Lent is better than any 
retreats or missions. 


108 




I might call Lent the time in which the whole 
Christian world enters upon a retreat or mission and 
that God showers upon the members of His Church 
more abundant graces and favors than during any 
other season. 

Beloved ones, let me strongly impress upon your 
mind to spend this holy season in the truly Chris¬ 
tian spirit. The letter killeth, the spirit vivifieth. 
I want to see my whole congregation observe Lent 
well, as I explained it to you on Ash Wednesday, 
but all the external actions of church-going, or of 
abstinence will profit you nothing unless you do all 
these things with the true, correct spirit of Lent, 

When a dear father or beloved mother dies there 
is in that f amil y a feeling of grief and sorrow. We 
need not tell the beloved ones who have lost their 
dear one to grieve or feel sad. Each and every one 
of the home shares in it; their hearts are nearly 
broken. It is not black dress or dark drapings, 
that is the outward, and if these are not true marks 
of the grief of the heart they are mere mockery. 

Brethren, remember that this holy season is in 
remembrance and much more, in imitation of the 
forty days’ fast of our Lord in preparation of Holy 

109 




Friday, the day upon which Jesus died, and for the 
great solemnity of Easter to celebrate worthily His 
resurrection. 

Now judge which feelings should be uppermost 
in your hearts during this holy season—the thought 
of Jesus fasting and praying, the thought that our 
sins caused all His sufferings, the thought that we 
are called upon to join in His fast and prayer, to 
atone for our past sins, to remove all sin from our 
hearts, to prepare to die to the world and sin and rise 
with our dear Jesus on Resurrection morning. 

These holy and pious thoughts should arouse our 
whole soul, and they should be the motives which 
urge us on with true devotion to observe Lent most 
punctually. 

This holy season is so appropriate to practice self- 
control, it may be that there are some amongst us 
who have never learned to control their passionate 
or slothful natures; they are carried along by the 
animal feelings, and they never resist them, but 
they are led astray by them. Perhaps some have 
never in their whole lives performed an act of self- 
control. Oh, now is the acceptable time to bring the 
cravings of our fallen nature under subjection, to 
purge all the old leaven, as -the Apostle says, 
no 




Let me come to particulars. These are excellent 
suggestions for Lent. 

In the morning do you rise promptly or do you 
give way to sloth? There you are tossing and roll¬ 
ing around in bed when it is time to rise, and you 
could easily do so. 

With some effort, for you that live close to the 
Church, could very easily come to mass, and by so 
doing consecrate the day to God;'or if you cannot 
come do your best to have morning family prayers, 
with attention and devotion. 

Do you watch over yourself, not to give way to 
your feelings of impatience, or of anger, or to resent 
some remark that may be made to you? Do 
you restrain your appetite by not giving it what¬ 
ever it craves for, avoiding all excess in eating and 
drinking? Do you put aside all that useless read¬ 
ing which is simply frivolous? Will you during 
this holy season engage in useful and instructive 
reading—such as the life of Christ or of the Saints, 
or the history of the Church, or above all, the Holy 
Bible, especially the New Testament, instead of all 
your illustrated newspapers full of sensationalism? 
Will you get a good Catholic paper, telling you 


111 




about your church and the great good accomplished 
by her members? Will you attend the devotions 
of Lent? Perform that beautiful and solid devotion 
of the Way or Stations of the Cross, and at home 
say the beads with the other members of the fam¬ 
ily, and finally abstain from all public and unnec¬ 
essary amusements during the holy season? 

Now, beloved, if you will spend this holy season in 
the manner which I have just explained to you, 
will not God bless you, aye, more than in a retreat 
or a two weeks’ mission? "Will not God, the author 
and giver of all good gifts, strengthen you with His 
grace and fill your soul with devotion and love, for 
Him and for your salvation? 

Do this and you shall live. Yes, friends, you 
shall live the life of the true Catholic—the docile 
child of the Church. You shall then receive the 
grace of God, but not in vain, but it shall work in 
you the divine strength of God unto maturity—that 
is, life everlasting. 


112 




^econlr ^untmp of Hent 


St. Paul’s letter read to-day was addressed to the 
Thessalonians.‘ In it he says: “The will of God 
is your sanctification; not in the passion of lust, for 
God hath not -called us unto uncleanness, but unto 
sanctification in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Friends, these sublime words of the great Apostle 
should be engraven deeply in the minds and hearts 
of every Christian, especially during this holy sea¬ 
son. 

There is an inborn feeling in our nature to avoid 
and shun all dangers of contagious and catching 
diseases; for instance, cholera, smallpox, diphtheria. 
How we would keep away from our best friends and 
neighbors and warn our children to keep away from 
them, and even forbid them to go to the house in 
which the disease is, and the people affected cannot 
take this amiss. 

Would you go there and visit and sit down and 
chat and come in contact with the diseased person, 


113 





breathe in their contagious breath, inoculate the 
disease by touching them? 

Would you not punish your children if they went 
there, or if they or you went by mistake, would you 
not be alarmed or change your dress, and bathe and 
take antidotes? 

Do not health officers send warning and place 
placards or signs on the house where some affected 
person is sick? The diseased must be isolated, for 
we must prevent the spreading of that contagion. 

Would we not all severely condemn any one who 
would go to those sick and stay with them and then 
go and visit other families. 

Friends, when a farmer learns that there is a 
contagious sickness among cattle, does he not fence 
in his own stock in order to prevent that disease 
affecting his cattle? 

We deserve great praise for all this, and we should 
be glad that the health officers do their duty so well 
in order to secure the health of the people and safe¬ 
guard it by preventing fatal diseases from spreading. 

Would to God that people were as careful about 
avoiding the fatal and very contagious diseases of 

114 




the soul as they are about avoiding the danger of 
catching some disease of the body. 

How inconsistent, how foolish to save our bodily 
life, which after all we must give up sooner or later; 
we are so careful and particular, but to save our 
spiritual and temporal and external life we are so 
careless. 

Brethren, please recall the words of the Apostle: 
“God hath not called us unto un-cleanness.” You 
know well to which sin he refers in these words, a 
sin of which he says: We should not even mention 
it amongst Christians. Therefore, I need not and 
dare not name it here at the altar in the presence 
of Jesus—a sin most contagious and so common 
and above all so fatal, and to which by -our fallen 
nature we are so inclined. 

Therefore, we are predisposed to it and we know 
from the advice of good, experienced physicians that 
in cases of epidemics, that means when some catch¬ 
ing disease is spreading fast, if our blood is not in 
good condition we are more liable to catch the dis¬ 
ease. 

The sin to which the Apostle refers and to which 
I am bound to call your attention is more fatal and 

115 



brings more sickness and wretchedness and deaths 
than all the contagious and fatal diseases known 
amongst us. 

Yes, that sin ruins both body and soul, not alone 
for this life, but for all eternity. 

As regards the body—I am sure, if people would 
understand the terrible effects it produces on the 
body, by wrecking the nervous system, by vitiating 
the blood, and deadening all vitality, producing 
melancholy and depression and even idiocy, they 
would shun the very thought of it and would do all 
in their power never to yield to it or to expose 
themselves to it. 

The living image of God, man, if he indulges in 
that sin becomes like a living grave full of corrup¬ 
tion, dragging out a miserable life, soon to be in an 
early grave. 

The evil becomes much greater and more difficult 
to do away with if it grows into a habit, for then 
its ravages are fearful. 

God knows us well and also the dangers in which 
we live. How we are surrounded by temptation, 
and He will save us, for He will never allow us to be 
tempted above our strength. 

116 




See how he kept untouched and unhurt the three 
children in the fiery furnace, and so He will pro¬ 
tect us. 

But do not give free scope to your senses, rather 
let us use the powerful means which Jesus Christ 
has left at our disposal to avoid that sin and its 
dangers. Do we use the antidotes so efficacious and 
sure which God has placed at our disposal? 

Do you pray—pray in earnest for divine grace? 
Do you call upon the Blessed Mother of Jesus for 
her protection? She is the mother of purity. Do 
you belong to the sodality and try to live as one of 
her chosen children? 

Do you take divine remedies, divine strength, by 
frequently receiving Holy Communion—Jesus, the 
fountain of all purity? 

But above all, do you avoid the deliberate and 
wilful occasions of this sin? All your prayers and 
communions will not do you any good if you do not 
avoid the wilful occasions, for the Holy Ghost has 
said it: “He who loves the danger shall perish 
therein.” Fall you shall, if you want to see and 
hear everything, if you indulge your bodily cravings. 

117 



0 beloved ones, how beautiful, how peaceful and 
happy is the life of the pure of heart. Good health, 
clear mind and strong will power and a heart full 
of happiness, for the pure see God. 

Therefore, during this holy season restrain the 
bodily appetites, practice self-denial. Steer clear of 
all the dangerous occasions of this ugly sin, and go 
to God, unto sanctification in Christ our Lord. 


118 




Cfn'rt ^unlrap of Hent 


To-day I want to explain to you, brethren, these 
words of the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians. 
He refers to the sin of which I spoke last Sunday, 
and how the world is full of that sin and others, 
but advises you to let no man deceive you with vain 
words, and therefore not to be partakers with them; 
but to walk as the children of light. 

Do you remember the striking fact related in 
the Holy Bible about the three Hebrew children 
who were cast into the fiery furnace in Babylon? 
They walked in the midst of the fire, through the 
flames, and were not hurt, though on that occasion 
the terrible furnace was heated more than ever be¬ 
fore. 

Of course, you understand, brethren, that God did 
this to show King Nabuchodonosor and his followers 
the truth of the words which the three youths had 
told them. Our God can keep us safe in the midst 
of the flames of the fiery furnace. 

119 




Beloved friends, I dare say that we, too, live in 
a fiery furnace, all ablaze with devouring flames 
and scorching and consuming fire. I refer to this 
world in which we live, and in which we must save 
our souls, notwithstanding all the dangers around 
us. 

I would rather be cast into a white-hot furnace 
and be consumed like a bit of wood and die—death 
would be very quick—than to be in a furnace hot, 
not with flame, but with vice and everything en¬ 
ticing and alluring me to do wrong and lead me 
astray from the path of virtue. Let the terrible 
blaze of a fire consume my body, rather than the 
fire of sin consume both my soul and body by its 
terrible consequences here and hereafter. 

There is within us the concupiscence of the eyes, 
those windows of the soul, always open to see, to 
admire, to be ensnared, that concupiscence which so 
quickly makes our hearts long for what we see, 
no matter what it may be, good or bad, provided it 
is pleasing to the sight. 

And the false light and the mere outward glitter 
the world throws around the seeming brilliant and 
captivating things which she places so glaringly be¬ 
fore us. 


120 




A mere look will convince us of this. Her adver¬ 
tisements on our streets and fences and in her news¬ 
papers and her circulars which are broadcast, her 
bright coloring, her lascivious pictures, her nude 
forms, her indecency under the pretext of art, and 
of the form divine, her suggestive pictures and 
paintings, her dress, the outgrow of fashion, the 
great cause of immodest slavery, her public balls and 
banquets and shows, during which her brilliant 
gayety is simply worldly, self-conceited, vain and 
proud men, and especially women, try to outdo one 
another by exhibiting their forms, their dress, their 
wealth, their jewelry and make one another jealous. 
It is like a show window in a large store about 
Christmas time—a great display of trinkets to at¬ 
tract the crowd. 

There are the other windows of the soul—the 
ears through which holy faith should come to us. 
The world has its gossip, and lying and evil sayings 
—its boasting, its denial of God and of whatsoever 
is holy; its music so ingeniously arranged as to 
flatter the passions. 

Like paganism of old, the world wants the home 
luxuriously extravagant, the soft bed, so agreeable 
to the body to indulge laziness; the dainty table with 
121 



every luxury imaginable; the late hours of the night 
to revel in drink and gratification; the long hours 
of sleep stretched far into the day, having no use 
for the Church or the poor—rather despising them 
—avoiding them as something that would interfere 
with their pleasure, so completely animal that there 
is little left of the intellectual and moral life. They 
live for this life, enslaving them. 

Beloved friends, there is the fiery furnace in 
which we live, and its fire is so quick and devour¬ 
ing because it flatters and entices us through our 
passions, that unless we are protected by the help 
of God we shall surely be lost. 

In the days of martyrdom the first Christians 
were warned, and strong in their faith they gloried 
in the fact that they were hated and persecuted, and 
they gave up life and all for Christ. Yes, sword 
and axe and rack and fire, are not as dangerous to 
us as the insinuating and enticing means which the 
world uses in order to rob us of our faith. 

Therefore, the Apostle warns us: Be not par¬ 
takers with them but walk as the children of God. 

If you follow the majority as it goes on in the 
world you are on the road to perdition. 

122 




Walk as the children of God, hearing His voice, 
following His commands and precepts. 

God will protect you and keep you from harm in 
the midst of this miserable, sinful and dangerous 
world if you will call upon Him and especially now 
during this holy season, if you will bring that body 
under subjection, guard your senses, spend this holy 
season in the true spirit of penance so contradictory 
to the licentious spirit of the world. The children 
of God walk the road that Christ walked, and by 
prayer and fasting and good works, especially by re¬ 
ceiving the Sacraments, keep away from the world, 
and follow Christ our Lord, whom the Father sent 
to us as our model. 


123 




Jfourttj ^unbap of Hent 


I read to you to-day from the letter which St. 
Paul wrote to the Galatians. These words, taken 
from that letter, will give us abundant matter for 
our instruction: “So then, brethren, we are not 
the children of the bondwoman, but of the free, 
by the freedom, wherewith Christ has made us 
free.” 

Dear friends, the world at large does not under¬ 
stand freedom. By it is meant to think whatever 
pleases, whether true or false; to do whatever one 
likes, whether good or bad. It is licentiousness, not 
freedom. The broader and the more extensive the 
truth which our minds possess, the freer the mind, 
and the more good we do, the nobler our hearts, as 
Christ our Lord said: “The truth shall set us 
free.” 

The fact that our minds are fallible and our wills 
weak and inclined to evil, puts a limit to our free¬ 
dom, as we cannot go beyond certain bounds without 
debasing our natures and thus destroying our real 

124 





freedom, which should ever elevate our natures and 
not hurt them. 

He who knows truth correctly and embraces 
good, and cannot make a mistake is really free. 
Liability to make mistakes and malice to do wrong 
is not freedom, but perversion. 

And how much the world talks about freedom. 
They glory in it, they proclaim it, they boast about 
it, as they say, they will fight for it, and the very idea 
of slavery, bondage—0 the very idea of it is so 
hateful. Why, did not our forefathers in the days 
of the great Washington fight for our national free¬ 
dom? Yes, fought and bled, and many died in de¬ 
fense of it on the battlefield. 

That idea of freedom and independence is so 
natural to all of us that we see everything colored 
with American freedom and independence. 

Did not our great nation fight for it, even for 
other countries? Does not every civilized country 
on God’s earth despise slavery, and do we not al] 
try to stamp it out wherever it may exist? 

All these expressions and wishes are praiseworthy; 
they reveal to us the inborn gift of true freedom 

125 




which God has given to our human nature, to he 
free in soul and body, but with the true freedom of 
His children. 

Whatever we have said so far refers to outward 
freedom or physical freedom, as opposed to bondage 
or prison life. 

But real freedom must go deeper; it must reach 
the mind and the heart, and unless the mind is lit 
up by the supernatural truth which Christ brought, 
and the will and heart be guided by it, we are free 
only to some extent—outward but not real freedom. 

Think you that the martyrs were not free, both in 
mind and will when tyrants tied them to the stake 
and burned them, or roasted them alive or inflicted 
pain or death? 0 then it was, their souls were set 
free with the freedom of God. 

The darkest prison cell or dungeon cannot take 
away true freedom. Physical bondage, when in¬ 
flicted unjustly, gives special lustre and strength to 
mental and moral freedom. 

So it is in the world—no matter how much peo¬ 
ple may persecute us and revile us, and say evil 
against us, and call us slaves to duty, and for jus- 
126 




tice sake put us in prison and even to death, re¬ 
joice, says our Lord. 

True bondage and real slavery were imposed on 
us by sin, when man’s mind became darkened and 
his heart hardened. 

Slavery in every shape or form is detestable, but 
of the two forms mental and moral slavery is the 
worse. 

Physical or external slavery is detestable, because 
it is against man’s nature to be enslaved, and also 
because of the harshness and the inhuman treat¬ 
ment the slave receives from the master or tyrant. 

But which master can be more harsh or inhuman 
or brutal—that intellectual blindness—mistaking 
falsehood for truth, and dark ignorance, not know¬ 
ing the only true light and principles which alone 
can guide 'the mind unto truth, supernatural and 
divine. 

What slavery can be more degrading and debas¬ 
ing than the slavery of the lowest passions of fallen 
human nature, which when indulged, lower man 
beneath the level of the brute? 


127 



Fetter a man, chain him hand and foot, pinion 
him to a rack in a dark dungeon, but let his soul 
and heart to be free with the freedom of the children 
of God, and he is ho slave, and he is far more free 
than the tyrant who placed him there. 

Is a man, no matter how wealthy or praised and 
flattered by the world, if he knows not the truth of 
life or of the hereafter and follows his passions, 
free? Oh, no. 

Will you call a babe or child not yet using his 
mind or will power free? Is it not to he guided by 
older people, until it is capable of using its own 
reason, and guide itself by its own will power? As 
the Apostle says, that the child is under bondage and 
instructors until it becomes a son. 

Now, beloved friends, Christ brought us that real 
freedom by bringing us to its true knowledge and 
guidance for our lives, and all those who follow Him 
become free with the freedom of the children of 
God. Those who know Him not nor the truth He 
brought, are slaves just as those who lived before His 
coming. They may imagine they are free, but are 
not. Born in supernatural darkness and not reborn 
in Christ to the new light, they see only this world 
128 




and live for it—the slaves of human sayings and 
human respect and human ideals and naturally be¬ 
come slaves to passion. 

Eternal thanks to Christ, who destroyed all 
slavery, set us free from the bondwoman and 
brought us the true freedom in and through Christ 
our Lord. 


129 




Patton ^unbap 


Letter to the Hebrews. St. Paul says: “Christ 
being come, a high priest, by His own blood being 
the mediation of the New Testament.” 

This is Passion Sunday—the last part of the holy 
season of Lent—for a more immediate preparation 
for Easter, and these two coming weeks are appro¬ 
priately given by the Church to the remembrance 
of the passion of Jesus Christ, who, as the Apostle 
says to-day, by His own blood became the high 
priest and mediator with the Heavenly Father in 
our behalf. 

We must consider the utter helplessness of man 
to please God, even if man had not fallen. 

But by sin, not only were we helpless, but an 
object of displeasure and condemnation in the sight 
of God, so that unless something were done for man 
there was nothing left to him but ruin—temporal 
and eternal. 


130 





By the mere act -of creation we owed God a debt 
of lasting gratitude or thanks, and how could a 
mere creature give worthy thanks to an infinite 
being. 

By sin man not only made himself utterly help¬ 
less, but made himself so culpable in the sight of 
God that he was utterly lost unless a divine person 
would come to his assistance. 

The office of giving thanks and of redeeming; 
that is, to obtain mercy and pardon and grace from 
God, requires the necessity of priesthood—a priest 
who will come between us and God and so redeem 
us that we will become acceptable in His sight. 

In other words, we need a priest, one who will 
offer sacrifice, not, as the Apostle says, the blood of 
goats or oxen, not mere animal blood, but who will 
offer a sacrifice to God, worthy of God, and be so ac¬ 
ceptable to God in His own personality, that God 
cannot refuse, that the atonement shall be infinite 
and supernatural, that God will be so pleased and 
delighted with it that He wall in it and through it 
and with it bring fallen man unto the fellowship of 
the divine nature. 


131 





That act of priesthood, so called redemption, was 
far more necessary for us than the act of creation. 
By it man was to be uplifted, to be made a new crea¬ 
tion, a new man. The face of this fallen earth was 
to be changed; poverty was to be turned into bound¬ 
less wealth; the curse into a blessing; every ill into 
pleasure; every heartache into joy; the black pall 
of the coffin into snow-white garment of dazzling 
and eternal splendor; the corpse was to be clothed 
with immortality; death and sin to be crushed for¬ 
ever. 

Philosophy could not do it, for the wisest of this 
world did not have this redeeming priesthood; laws 
only flattered vice. In other words, it required the 
divine touch of God—a divine priesthood. 

This the Son of God assumed in His own per¬ 
sonality, clothing Himself in human form, so in¬ 
geniously harmonizing the divine and human na¬ 
tures into His own divine personality that whatever 
He did in His divine or human nature was divine, 
and of infinite merit. 

Therefore Jesus Christ, the second person of the 
Blessed Trinity, underwent real death in His hu¬ 
man nature, His soul separating from His body, on 

132 




the cross, and offered to the Father a sacrifice of in¬ 
finite value and gave Him proof of the greatest 
love, namely, to give up His own life for the restora¬ 
tion of His honor and glory, and left us the infinite 
treasury of all His merits. 

Christ’s priesthood is the elevating power of man 
to God, and as Christ says no man can come to the 
Father except through Me, as He is the gate and the 
mediator with the Father, from which mediator all 
must obtain the means of salvation, out of Him, no 
salvation. 

All worship must go to the Father through the 
priesthood of Christ. It is only through Christ that 
we, and all we say and do, can be made acceptable 
to the Father. 

Hence no other worship can be acceptable, except 
what Christ our Lord established. 

Consider what Jesus has done for us in becoming 
our priest. He assumed our debt to His Father; 
He paid it by shedding His own blood; He leaves 
us all His infinite merits and lets us share most 
abundantly in these merits through the Sacramental 
channels. 


133 




He thus infuses into us a new life; does away 
with sin and all its effects, and brings us near to the 
Father, and restores immortality, after death, not 
•only for the soul, by giving it endless happiness, 
but for the body by clothing it with an immortality 
greater and higher than the one we lost in Adam. 

Beloved friends, let our best thanks go forth to 
Christ; let us be engrafted in His eternal and di¬ 
vine priesthood, so that through His infinite merits 
and our humble but zealous co-operation we may 
obtain the crown of eternal glory. 


134 




Palm ^unbap 


The letter from St. Paul to the Philippians. “He 
humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, 
even to the death of the cross; therefore God exalted 
him.” 

No more appropriate words could be spoken to¬ 
day about our dear Lord than those I have just 
quoted. Only look forward into this week—holy 
week—and the Church holds up her Christ, her 
founder and model, humbled to the dust of the 
earth—a worm, and no man, more humble than 
the humblest of men. 

Shall we look to-day at that beautiful, charming 
virtue, so dear to God, so necessary for salvation—the 
virtue which Christ, our model, practiced in so 
striking a manner, evidently to crush our foolish 
pride, <the virtue which every saint of God loved and 
cherished, for they all knew it well: “He that hum- 
bleth himself shall be exalted, and he that shall ex¬ 
alt himself shall be humbled.” 


135 




The world is full of pride. Oh, but we must not 
be worldly, nor follow the pride of the world, but 
the humility of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus Christ is the model of humility. His whole 
life, His every word and action teach and inculcate 
the practice of that virtue. His life is an open re¬ 
buke to the pride of the rich, scribe and pharisee. 

Pride vitiates everything. God hates the proud 
and loves the humble. Proof, Lucifer and his fol¬ 
lowers. Adam and Eve, deceived by Satan under 
the plea that they would be wise like God; David’s 
complacency and vanity; Goliath, Holophernes, 
Antiochus, Aman, Tower of Babel, Moab, Pharaoh. 

Pride is theft, claiming for ourselves what does 
not belong to us. 

What reason have we to be proud? Look at sins 
of childhood, sins of riper years, all the sins of our 
lives—proud of our looks, dress, wealth, and what 
are these but accidental gifts? 

Proud of our intellectual smartness or business 
capacity. Again, these are nature’s gifts. Death 
will lay them low; a mere accident and all is gone. 

136 




How weak and frail we are. To-day we are what 
we are; tomorrow we may fall. Behold Solomon; 
behold King David; how they fell. Peter swore to 
be faithful to his master and at the sight of a woman 
he denied Him. Let him who thinks himself to 
stand take heed lest he fall. 

Pride is so abominable in the sight of God. As 
long as we prefer ourselves to any one we place our¬ 
selves before Christ, who took the lowest place and 
humbled Himself before all. See Him kneeling be¬ 
fore Judas at the last supper, washing the feet of 
that fallen Apostle. 

The ways of God are the reverse of the ways of 
the world; first with God is last with the world; first 
with the world is last with God. 

How foolish it is. We put our small, narrow and 
limited intellects against that of the Almighty; we 
place ourselves ahead of Him; we usurp His throne. 
“I shall place my throne next to that of the 
Almighty,” said the proud Lucifer. 

True greatness consists in the clear and perfect 
knowledge that God is supreme Lord and Master, 
and that all I and every one else possess are the 
gifts of God. Humility is truth and justice. 

Therefore, when we were admitted into the 


137 




Church by baptism we were asked: “What do you 
ask of the Church of God?” Our answer was: “Faith, 
the submission of our intellect to the teachings of 
God and of His Church.” 

How beautiful is humility in the Blessed Virgin. 
Because He hath regarded the humility of His 
handmaid, behold, henceforth all generations shall 
call me blessed. For He hath dethroned the proud 
and exalted the humble. All the Saints followed 
the great lesson: “Learn of Me because I am meek 
and humble of heart.” 

How men admire it, even the wicked and tho 
proud try to hide their contemptible natures under 
the garb of humility. Not only man, but God loves 
the humble and resisteth the proud. 

I cannot exhort you strongly enough, especially 
to-day, when we enter upon Passion week to reflect 
seriously upon the humility of Jesus Christ during 
His sacred passion. See our model humbled to the 
dust—reviled and crucified. Let us put aside all 
vanity, self-esteem and especially pride, and let us 
go under the outstretched arms of the cross, and in 
all humility ask pardon of Jesus, and promise to 
imitate Him in that sublime humility which He 
practiced during His whole life; but especially dur¬ 
ing His sacred passion and death. 

138 




Carter ^unbap 


The Apostle to-day, addressing his letter to the 
Corinthians, says: “Christ, our Pasch, is sacrificed.” 

The great feast of the Jewish people was the 
Pasch. Christ in the new or in His law makes it 
the great feast of the Christian. 

The great lamb, the true Pascal victim, has been 
slain for our salvation; but as He predicted clearly 
all His life, he rose to-day in triumpn over death 
and sin and hell, and stands as the undisputed Mas¬ 
ter and Ruler of the world—as Christ divine, the 
Son of the living God. 

The sacrifice of Calvary in all its horrors and 
blood puts the undeniable and indisputable seal 
upon the Resurrection. If the death of Christ were 
in any way doubtful; if our Pasch had not been sac¬ 
rificed, the Resurrection would not stand out in bold 
relief—beyond all doubt and dispute. 

How well the death of Christ was planned. How 


139 





His enemies swore that they had to do away with 
Him. How they said He was in their way. How 
they were determined to do away with Him, at any 
cost. How they rejected every other plan to harm 
or hinder His mission. Death was to be the only 
and sure test of His divinity. Let us do away with 
Him, but let us be sure of it. No other plan could 
ever satisfy them. If He comes to life He is God; 
if not, our triumph is complete. 

They remembered His three days’ promise. The 
third day after His death was to be the decisive day. 
If He did not rise then He was an impostor, and 
they would let the people know and see. 

Let us get Him and be sure of His death, and we 
will do the rest. 

Hence His arrest, brought about by a treacherous 
Apostle, one who knew Him well. So there could 
be no mistake they hold Him fast; they secure Him 
in a dungeon, and in broad daylight have Him con¬ 
demned and see Him die on the cross. Our Pasch 
is sacrificed as the Apostle says. 

His enemies guard His tomb; no one near; the 
seal of the governor is on the stone, 

140 




His enemies are the first to admit His Resurrec¬ 
tion. Our Pasch is sacrificed and the effect of the 
great sacrifice is the Resurrection. 

The two facts of the Crucifixion and of the Res¬ 
urrection of Christ are the two clearest facts that 
stand out beyond all doubt or dispute. 

No sane man could or would ever deny 
them or call them into question. The death on the 
cross, so public, so conspicuous, when thousands of 
strangers were in the city—witnesses of the fact and 
of the wonderful darkness and of the earthquake. 

We know the exact spot of the burial. Who ever 
touched the body of the entombed Christ, who 
opened the tomb? We have the testimony of His 
own enemies. Who broke the seal? which act con¬ 
stituted a crime of treason. Who ever found any 
remains of that Christ? Any relic in the shape of 
bone or any remnant of that body? Where is that 
body? Where was it taken or carried? Who kept 
it or destroyed it? The answer for all the centuries 
of the past says—no one. Christ rose from the tomb. 
The great crowning act of His great life; the crown¬ 
ing glory of His sacrifice. Our Pasch, as the Apos¬ 
tle says, is sacrificed. 


141 




There stands the risen Christ. Remember He is 
our model and, as the same Apostle says, “As Christ 
rose, we shall also rise.” 

What joy, what happiness to light up this 
wretched and dark world of ours. 

To-day look at life and its trials and troubles. In 
the light of the Resurrection tears of sorrow are bril¬ 
liant gems; trials and sacrifices are the great sources 
of merit and of the Resurrection. Rejoice, brethren, 
for our Pasch is sacrificed, and by it His triumph 
and ours are complete and perfect. 


142 




$\x*t ^unbap Sifter (Carter 


The reading to-day is from a letter which St. 
John, the beloved Apostle of Jesus, wrote to his peo¬ 
ple: “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the 
world; and this is the victory which overcometh the 
world—our faith.” 

Every word of this beautiful letter should be writ¬ 
ten in golden characters in our hearts. It ’tells in 
a few words the divinity of our faith. Its victory 
over the world and its wonderful and lasting effect. 
He that believeth in the Son of God hath the testi¬ 
mony of God in himself. 

Faith. Our faith is born of God, for who else 
except God could teach us anything about truths, 
which far transcend all human knowledge and un¬ 
derstanding. 

Who could bring us news and the glad tidings 
of another world full of happiness which was to last 

forever? 


143 




Who but God could show us the way and supply 
us with all the powerful and infallible means to 
reach it? 

Who but God could dispel all the false doctrines 
and superstitions and the idolatry which covered the 
earth at His coming? 

Who but God could redeem man from that hor¬ 
rible state with his mind weakened and darkened, 
so as to be blind, totally blind about all supernatural 
truth, and with the will perverted, lead by the crav¬ 
ings of the worst passions? 

What a beautiful gift Christ brought us in bring¬ 
ing faith, divine faith, to us. It opens and widens 
the mental faculties; opens them to a new light. 
Let us see things of this world in the light of the 
supernatural, and of the world to come—a ray from 
God, from heaven lighting up our path unto 
divinity. 

It unites our intellects with that of God, makes 
them partake of His infallibility, through the abso¬ 
lute conviction that God cannot err, cannot deceive 
and will not deceive, but whatever He reveals is in¬ 
finite and divine truth. 


144 




Of late years we use flashlights—the strong elec¬ 
tric beam which is thrown upon an object or person 
lights it so clearly that we can see it as it is. So the 
ray of divine light, faith, which comes from God, 
when thrown upon us and the world around us, lets 
us see the world and ourselves in the light of God, 
what we really are. 

An act of faith is the most natural and at the 
same time the most elevating and noblest act, our 
minds cannot possibly perform, for our mind is 
made for truth, and there is no truth better suited 
to the human mind, for both its temporal and 
eternal welfare than the truths of faith. Besides, 
the source of knowledge is divine. It is the word 
of God Himself, truth emanating from His own 
divine essence—directly manifested to us. 

The channel through which we receive it is also 
infallible, namely, -the Church; therefore, He so 
clearly established it, gave her His own word, that 
by hearing her we would hear Him, promising that 
He would be with her until the end of time, and 
assuring her that error should never prevail against 
her. 

Faith is the first of the three divine virtues, 


145 




uniting us to God through His infinite and infal¬ 
lible knowledge upon which we rely. It goes up to 
God’s veracity, we knowing Him and trusting Him; 
that is to say, we not only believe Him but believe 
in Him. 

God always gave the world evident outward and 
tangible proof of faith, but especially by sending 
His only begotten Son into the world, who proved 
His divinity so clearly by His life, by His miracles, 
and especially by His death and resurrection, that 
no reasonable man, who investigates honestly the 
doings of Christ, can have the slightest doubt of 
His divinity, and therefore of the faith which He 
brought us from the Father. 

That true faith in Christ was the occasion of most 
of His miracles. How often did He not say: “Thy 
faith hath made thee whole. I have not found such 
faith in Israel.” 

But faith must be practical, for without good 
works it is dead. 

See the wonderful effects of practical faith in 
Christ, as St. John says in to-day’s letter: “He that 
believeth in the Son of God hath the testimony of 
God in Himself.” 


146 




Proof of these words: See the lives of the Apos¬ 
tles, the martyrs, confessors, virgins and all the 
saints of God; see children naturally timid act 
like heroes, strengthened by that faith; see the ef¬ 
fect upon the soul of the babe, which dies before 
reason dawns. It is an heir and co-heir of Jesus 
Christ unto His own kingdom. 

The most learned men of God tell us that faith 
is a gift, for, strictly speaking, God owes us nothing, 
and therefore if we do not profit by it, but by sin 
we squander it, God takes it away, and we fall 
back to naturalism and very frequently become far 
worse than if we never had the faith. 

Therefore, we must thank God for that precious 
gift which enables us to reach Him, and we must 
make every effort not to squander or lose it, but to 
increase and perfect it, until we shall see God, face 
to face, and not merely, as we do now, by reason 
elevated through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. 


147 




^econb ^unbap Hfter OEaater 


The letter to-day is from St. Peter. He tells us 
that Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example 
that you should follow His steps. 

The great object of sending to us His beloved 
Son, and letting Him live in our midst like one of 
us, and preach to us, and finally suffer and die for 
us, was to place that Son before us as our model— 
the model of the elect or chosen ones—the type of 
all those who would be saved; the leader of Chris¬ 
tianity, so that we can only call ourselves Christians 
or imitators of Jesus Christ in so far as we resemble 
Him. That resemblance is necessary for salvation. 

This is perfectly clear from what St. Paul 
preaches: “Those whom He foreknew to be similar 
to the image of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, He 
predestined to life everlasting.” 

All the Church teaches, all her sacraments, her 
devotions, her services, simply are intended to re- 

148 





produce in our souls the image of Jesus Christ, the 
image of the divine being, through the workings of 
the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier. Understand this 
well. It means to make us Christlike. 

It is only on account of Christ that man and the 
whole of creation was made acceptable to God, and 
it is only through Christ that God will hear our 
prayers and bless us and crown us. 

Now, unless God sees in us a resemblance to His 
only begotten Son, He will not recognize us as His 

own. 

Therefore, Christ was perfect with the divine per¬ 
fection of the Father, and the charming perfection 
of the perfect man. 

But how can we know Christ? Which knowl¬ 
edge is necessary, not only for salvation, but even 
for our natural perfection—our becoming true and 
genuine and civilized and cultured men. St. Paul 
calls all knowledge outside of the knowledge of 
Christ as worthless—not to glory except in Jesus 
Christ. 

It is self-evident that we cannot know Christ un¬ 
less we study His life, and thereby acquire the deep- 
149 






est supernatural and the clearest natural knowledge 
of that God-man. 

The Father sent Him faultless, so that no man 
can possibly find any flaw or shortcoming in Him, 
so that He is the perfect model. 

The study of Christ, His divine and human na¬ 
ture, especially His divine personality, is so beauti¬ 
ful and elevating that we cannot possibly study 
Him without knowing Him, and when we know 
Him we cannot help loving Him, and when we 
love Him, we cannot help longing to be like Him; 
that is, to imitate Him. 

The natural desire to be like great men whom we 
happen to meet, can only find its satisfaction in 
Jesus Christ, for no matter how great and brilliant 
human beings may appear to us at first, after a 
while—after a better acquaintance, we find “that 
there is nothing perfect under the sun—there are 
flaws, foibles and defects.” 

Not with Christ. The more knowledge we acquire 
about Him, the more we wish to learn and know; in 
all cases, but especially in His, truth is stranger 
than fiction. 


150 




In Him there is sublime manliness—at the same 
time that divine gentleness. His manner is so at¬ 
tractive to saint and sinner alike. Even when He 
rebukes, the sinner cannot take it amiss. 

Every true Christian who tried to become like our 
Lord, judged and spoke and acted like Him—so it 
should be. Christians should be other Christs; yes, 
like their Master, and thus let the light of God, of 
Christ, of the Gospel shine before men. 

That beautiful, that clear and heavenly knowl¬ 
edge of Christ must then be acquired; otherwise w r e 
cannot be true followers of Jesus Christ; now, where 
can we obtain it? 

Thank God, brethren, we have the life of Jesus, 
from His humble birth in a stable, to His terrible 
death upon the cross, written by holy men under 
the protection and guidance of the Holy Ghost, in 
that grandest of all books—the Bible. It is the 
book. How anxious Mother Church is about our 
reading it. Her priests read the divine office every 
day; the greater part of which is taken from that 
great book. Every Sunday and holiday of obliga¬ 
tion, every pastor reads to his congregation, both the 

151 




letter from one of the Apostles and the Holy Gospel 
—all parts of the Bible. 

But on to-day, as Christ is placed before us, as 
our model, in the beautiful letter of St. Peter, I ex¬ 
hort you frequently, if possible daily, to read a part, 
say one chapter of the life of Jesus as it is written 
in the holy book by the four evangelists. 

Before reading call upon the assistance of the 
Holy Ghost, who, as you know, is the sanctifier of 
our souls—that is, He is anxious to come into our 
souls, and work there to imprint on them the image 
of Jesus Christ, the knowledge and love of Jesus, 
so that the Father will recognize us as His own. 

It is difficult, and for some of you impossible, to 
come to Church as often as you might desire. Well, 
dear friends, have patience. But I say that your 
church then is your soul; drink in the knowledge 
and the love of Jesus by carefully reading the life 
of our Lord, pausing, reflecting and comparing your 
conduct with His. 

I dare say that if any Christian, Oh, if you, my 
dear ones in Christ, would do this, you would liko 
it; aye, love it. Your minds would learn to think 


152 




or meditate about the God-man; the Holy Ghost 
would fill your minds and hearts with his knowl¬ 
edge and his grace; the world would become Chris¬ 
tianized—that is, really civilized; the charity of God 
and the neighbor would fill our souls and we would 
follow in the steps of Jesus. 


153 




Cfnrb ^unbap Sifter Carter 


My beloved friends, both the letter and the Gos¬ 
pel of to-day are so beautiful and so full of Christian 
perfection that I would like very much to call your 
attention to some of the sayings of the Apostles or 
of Jesus Himself. Well, I will not forget to do this 
on another Sunday. 

But to-day our dear Mother, the Church, gathers 
us here near the altar, to do special honor to one of 
her greatest saints, one whom Jesus and the Blessed 
Mother loved so much. 

When we celebrated Christmas he was almost lost 
in the divinity of the babe, and the splendors of 
the young, divine and charming mother, who stood 
by the manger. 

You know to whom I refer, do you, to Holy Jo¬ 
seph, a saint so dear and near to Jesus and Mary. 
Therefore the Church calls upon us to do him honor 
on this special Sunday, set apart for him as the pro- 
154 





tector of Jesus and Mary, and the protector of the 
whole Church, and of all its members. 

God alone is the true judge of sanctity. He alone 
is Holiness itself, and the nearer we are to Him 
the holier we are. 

The Church has her list of saints—so-called cal¬ 
endar—on it she has wonder-workers, who come be¬ 
fore the world, and by their inspired gifts arouse the 
multitudes and make them kneel before the stand¬ 
ard of the cross; work miracles and like beacon 
lights illumine the world. 

There are others on that list, and they never 
preached; never worked a miracle; never came be¬ 
fore the world, but led the inner or, as it is called, 
hidden life; and oh, their sanctity—such for in¬ 
stance was the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God, 
Queen of Apostles and Martyrs and of all the saints.. 

To this class belongs St. Joseph. He is God’s 
choice; to Holy Joseph God will confide, put under 
his care and protection the two most sacred treas¬ 
ures that Heaven gave to earth—the Son of the liv¬ 
ing God and His young, spotless, pure Virgin 
Mother. This choice may give us some slight 
glimpse of the holiness of St. Joseph. 

155 



What means this—to place the babe and child 
and boy and man, Jesus, and His most blessed 
Mother under his care ? It means to live with them 
for about twenty-seven years and labor for them, 
support them, be ever in their presence, drink in 
from them the purest and holiest love for God and 
man, for Jesus and His Mother. 

It cannot be denied that the presence and exam¬ 
ple and prayer and conversation and advice of a 
true, pure, noble woman, refine and elevate man. 
Friends, what about the impressions and noble emo¬ 
tions and divine and pure human love, the Blessed 
Virgin so charmingly pure and so intensely sweet, 
produced on the mind and heart of holy Joseph? 
Could any one of us poor creatures form an idea of 
this? 

No use of my referring to the effects, divine and 
human, which Jesus produced on the soul of holy 
Joseph. Was it not for him perpetual adoration 
and love so deep, so enravishing that his soul felt 
more true devotion and divine love than most, if 
not all, the saints of God? 

Behold holy Joseph holding Jesus in his arms, 
leaning the child against his heart, letting it nestle 

156 





and sleep there. He held the Savior of the world, 
the Messiah, the Creator. What then passed in his 
soul angels could not tell. 

And when he saw his immaculate spouse, the 
young mother, holding her Jesus—friends, words 
fail me. Let us reflect, let us see that holy family 
and kneel down in ecstacy of wonder and be wrapt 
in deep prayer. 

And these two called him Father, so said the will 
of the heavenly Father. Joseph here on earth was 
for them to take the place of their heavenly Father. 

If to be with Jesus and Mary and to live with 
them and for them; if prayer and meditation and a 
life sacrificed for Jesus and Mary means sanctity, 
then holy Joseph stands amongst the first of all 
saints. Jesus loved him so; so did the Blessed 
Mother, and they kept him near them as a father. 

How wisely then did the successors of St. Peter, 
our holy Fathers, the Popes, tell us to go to Joseph. 
You can readily see why they confided the church, 
the mystic body of Jesus, to St. Joseph, and why we 
celebrate that feast to-day. 

Let me call upon you all to-day, dear ones in 
Christ. Let me say to you, go to Joseph. 

157 


\ 




As I have told you, we must be like our Lord; 
we should know Him well. Ah, then, ask holy 
Joseph to teach you the great virtue of his life—love 
for Jesus and Mary. 

Place your families under the guardianship of 
that holy patron. In all your necessities call upon 
him as Jesus and Mary did, and, oh, may you die as 
he did in the arms of the Blessed Virgin, resting his 
head upon the heart of Jesus—die the death of the 
Just. 


158 





JFourtft ^unbap after faster 


To-day we read from the letter of the Apostle St. 
James. I take the last words of to-day’s reading: 
“With meekness receive the engrafted word which 
is able to save your souls.” 

A very serious question which is very often asked 
is this: Why is it that there is so much preaching, 
so many exhortations, and yet, comparatively speak¬ 
ing, there are so few good and genuine Christians 
who live up to their religion ? 

The Apostle St. James advises us to receive the 
word of God with meekness, that is, in self-posses¬ 
sion, with composure, with docility, meek like a 
lamb that follows the shepherd and hears his voice 
and recognizes that voice and follows him. 

St. James tells us that it is the engrafted word, 
beautiful thought, for our natures by sin were made 
barren, unproductive like a barren tree, growing 
wild, producing no fruit and only fit to be burned. 

159 





By engrafting the word of God into our natures 
we received the grace of God, which is able to save 
our souls; that is, after receiving it we are made 
fruitful and can produce fruit in abundance for life 
everlasting. 

That grace or word of God is able to save us, but 
will not do so against our will, for it never forces 
the free will. 

It is like good and powerful medicine pre¬ 
scribed by an excellent and experienced physician j 
that medicine is able to cure us, but we must do our 
part—we must take it as prescribed and follow the 
given directions. 

We can take other medicine and luxuries and 
things that flatter our palate and taste, and thereby 
destroy the effect of the medicine, no matter how 
good and curative it may be, and upset all the plans 
of the doctor. 

There is no doubt that the word of God is the best 
and most powerful and infallible medicine for our 
souls, for it was prescribed and brought down from 
heaven by the best and most infallible physician of 
our souls, who knows us, and therefore understands 
what is best for us. 


160 




Therefore we should receive it as St. James says, 
in meekness. Let us make this clear to ourselves. 
Blessed, says our Lord, are the meek, and as the 
Psalmist says, He shall exalt the meek. 

Unless we watch ourselves carefully and examine 
our consciences thoroughly but calmly, we are all 
very apt to become restless, nervous, always busy 
with something that annoys us, fills our minds with 
anxiety and our hearts with a restlessness which 
robs us of our peace of soul. 

We are strangers to that gentle Christian peace of 
a soul, which is self-possessed, and when w r e cease 
to be busy, our minds, relieved from excitement, nat¬ 
urally should be quiet. It is then our minds in¬ 
stinctively turn to our troubles. In the quiet which 
fills the church of God during services—such as 
mass and the sermon—our minds are far away from 
God. We are restless, we have not got our minds on 
God or the word of God. We may hear the sermon, 
but the word of God cannot become engrafted in 
our soul. 

Unless our souls are set free, that is, disengaged 
from worldly cares and troubles, the word of God 
cannot find entrance. 


161 




The word of God is the principal and only solid 
food for the mind, and if we deprive ourselves of it 
by our restlessness and fretful disposition, which is 
ever distracting us, we grow weak in our faith, we 
find no relish in the hearing of the word, we become 
tired and wearisome, and we try to avoid going to 
church to hear sermons or instructions. 

We get angry with some one, or we carry in our 
hearts some ill feeling or spite against some one; 
oh, we cannot bear the sight of that man or woman 
in the church; oh, there is no use listening to the 
sermon. Why we cannot. Do receive the word of 
God in meekness. 

We are worldly. We go to church to be seen, 
to let others see us, to have our dress admired. We 
like to go to balls and dangerous amusements. We 
love to frequent' the saloon. We are neglectful of 
our duty. Our souls are in a constant turmoil. 
What is the use, we ask, to go to church. We do 
not like the sermons; they are too simple; they only 
disturb the peace of our minds. Oh, do receive the 
word of God in meekness. 

Further, perhaps the priest who preached struck 
home to you, severely condemned, as he should, 


162 




some vice or sin. His words seemed to you like 
burning coals coming to devour your sins, which 
you hide so well by a polished exterior. Now you 
are surely restless. Oh, you feel like leaving the 
church. You have no use for that priest. You 
want some one else to preach the Gospel to you. I 
repeat, poor soul, receive the word of God in meek¬ 
ness. 

God is never in commotion or excitement. His 
word enters the calm soul so easily, so gently, and 
yet so efficaciously, as St. James says, it is able to 
save your soul. 

How Mother Church teaches you and reminds 
you of this, to free your souls from all care and dis¬ 
traction. When you enter her threshold, by placing 
the holy water font, from which you take the blessed 
water, to bless yourself with it, that you have ern 
tered the church of God, leaving all worldliness and 
care outside. 

Do you understand the blessing which I give to 
you all, just before mass on Sundays? I sprinkle 
you with holy water to have your souls cleansed 
from all other care save that of your salvation, and 

163 




thus prepare your souls to hear the word of God in 
meekness. 

Prepare your souls well then when you come to 
hear the word of God; prepare that soul by prayer 
and calm of soul so thait the word will be engrafted 
and produce a hundred fold here and hereafter. 


134 




$ iftf) s^unbap Sifter Caster 


To-day we continue our reading from the letter 
of St. James. For the subject of my remarks to¬ 
day I take the first words: “Dearly beloved, be ye 
doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving 
your own selves.” . 

The world is full of hearers of the word, but how 
few are, as St. James says, doers of the word. 

If we were to practice only one-tenth of what we 
hear, how good, fervent and pious we would be. 

There are people who have been hearing sermons 
from their childhood and now have reached a good 
old age, and yet they are not doers of the word. 

Many boast of this, that they know the whole 
doctrine of the church, that they have heard ser¬ 
mons all their lifetime, and heard the great speakers 
and missionaries, and yet they do not practice what 
they have heard. 

They are those of whom our Lord spoke, when 

165 





in the parable one man received only one talent or 
coin. He buried it, he did not labor with it, and 
when the Master came to call him to an account, 
he brought the talent, but was condemned for bury¬ 
ing it and not making good use of it. What shall it 
profit such men to know what they should do, and 
who do not do it? Are they not very guilty in the 
sight of God? 

As St. James remarks, the word is like a mirror 
—in it we can see what we are in the sight of God. 
In examining ourselves in that mirror we will ac¬ 
quire correct and true knowledge of ourselves. In 
the instructions which are given we can very eas¬ 
ily see how we stand with God, but as the apostle 
says, we must acquire that knowledge in order to 
apply it to ourselves. 

If any one would use the looking glass and see 
spots on the face or dress, and then go away and 
forget all about these blemishes, what good would 
it do to use the mirror? 

Very often we may become attentive to the ser¬ 
mon; we may be impressed with what is said, but 
no sooner do we leave the church, even though we 
may make some remarks about it, than we forget, 
166 




and it may be that we even try to forget, because the 
impression the sermon has made upon us is not very 
pleasing to our self-love. 

Such people hear the word, but unto their own 
perdition. 

When men in business hear anything that will 
prevent failures, or that will increase their success, 
such as a sure means of making more money, or 
making up for past losses, how quickly they 
adopt these means and change their business meth¬ 
ods. How true the words of our Lord—the children 
of the world are wiser than the children of light. 

Pilots on vessels are ever watching for beacon 
lights, which are to guide them through the danger¬ 
ous places on the sea and on rivers. How carefully 
they steer, following very exactly the directions of 
those lights, and how do we act? The beacon light 
of the soul, the word we hear, and in it we see the 
true way to follow, and the dangers which we should 
avoid, and yet we do not do it. 

We all like to hear what we call a good sermon, 
a fine speech, especially when a nice priest gives it. 
We admire him. He is as the world calls it, a nice, 
elegant gentleman of very fine appearance; he 

167 




speaks very fluently; he is an orator; he uses very 
choice language, is flowery, poetical; he is a real 
actor; then above all, is so entertaining people flock 
from all sides to hear him. Oh, how well we listen. 
The effect with us is only to praise and to admire, 
but we remain inactive; we are not doers of the 
word. 

There is nothing so foolish and laughable and 
self-deceiving as a person who will stand before a 
looking glass, perhaps for hours. The person is not 
really beautiful; it is a very common face, rather 
ugly, and the form is anything but symmetrical 
or perfect, and yet such people will imagine or flatter 
themselves that they are nice looking or have a nice 
appearance, and they even make comparisons with 
others, and think that they are not so bad looking 
as others. Well, friends, what about flattering our¬ 
selves in sermons and instructions; that all this 
applies to others; that it is splendid for such and 
such a one, but we do not apply it to ourselves? 

If you had no looking glass at home, would you 
not go to the store or to town perhaps to buy one? 
Why, you must have one, and you could not get 
along without one. You must see how you look; 
you are careful about your appearance before men, 
168 




and you act rightly. But what about your appear¬ 
ance in the sight of God? Should you not be more 
careful about Him than about men and women. 

We should (therefore use the mirror of God in 
which we must examine ourselves carefully, and 
when we see the light, guide our actions by it, as the 
Magi when they saw the star of Bethlehem. 

How strikingly does St. James explain all this 
by his words: “He that hath looked into the perfect 
law of liberty, and bath continued therein, not be¬ 
coming a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, 
this man shall be blessed in his deed.” 

Thank God, we have the perfect law of liberty, 
the sublime law of the Gospel as explained to us by 
the apostles, and left to us in their inspired writings. 
Let us hear the word with attention and reverence, 
and be doers of the word in the perfect law of lib¬ 
erty, in Jesus Christ our Lord. 


169 



ascension Bap 


The feast of to-day is the triumph of Jesus, to 
enter as God-man into heaven, and as God-man to 
return to the bosom of the Father. 

Easter is the basis of our hope; to-day’s feast 
shows us the fulfillment of that hope, for our Lord 
goes to heaven, there to prepare our future home. 
There are many mansions, he said, in the Home of 
mty Father. 

Our Lord must leave us, that is, withdraw from 
our midst, his visible and tangible presence, as He 
said Himself: “It is expedient for you that I go, for 
if I do -not go, the Paraclete will not come.” We 
would not listen to the church or her ministers. We 
would never be satisfied unless we would see Jesus 
himself, to preach to us, to hear our confession, to 
give us the other sacraments. 

It is the greatest chance of practicing our faith. 
He guaranteed it by His own divine promise—fear 
not, I will be with you, and He who hears you hears 

me. 


170 





The place from which Jesus ascended into heaven 
is Mount Olivet. From it Calvary could be plainly 
seen. The disciples and the Blessed Mother have 
gathered there, for He told them to come there. 

To them, full of sadness and grief, He gave His 
farewell words. They listen most attentively. He 
told them He was going to the Father, and He would 
then send to them the Holy Ghost. Whilst His 
dear ones on earth were sorrowing, limbo and heaven 
were rejoicing, for the Son of God, now God-man, 
was to return to the Father who sent Him, the souls 
of the just were to enter into heaven on to-day as 
the first fruit of the redemption, following Jesus 
into the joys of His Kingdom. 

As he stood upon the mount, and they knelt 
around Him, He gave them His last blessing, and 
then He rose from the earth to lead captivity captive, 
the conqueror of death and sin, to enter in triumph 
into the Kingdom which He had conquered for us 
by His passion and death. The great army of 
angels, all the souls of the just delivered from limbo 
called upon the heavens to lift their gates, for the 
King of glory came to enter into His Kingdom. 

Impossible to describe the meeting of Jesus and 
those souls who had been detained in limbo, their 


171 



joy and their happiness, their thanksgiving, but God 
alone can tell the meeting of the three divine per¬ 
sons when the Son returned to them with His 
human nature, thus uniting that human nature 
unto the divine, and placing it in heaven as the 
model of all the elect, and the link which bound 
man to God by creation, and which had been broken 
by sin was reunited, and man lifted and raised into 
the divine nature by the redemption went into 
heaven in and through t/he assumed human nature 
of Jesus Christ. 

To-day let me repeat to you the words which the 
priest recites every day at the altar: Raise your 
hearts on high. Yes, behold Jesus, the conqueror, 
our brother, seated at the right hand of the Father, 
clothed in glory, divine and everlasting. He is the 
light of heaven, and if eye hath not seen, ear hath 
not heard, nor any heart hath ever conceived what 
God has in store for His loved ones in heaven, then 
I say, how utterly beyond all our loftiest thoughts 
and most brilliant imaginations is the joy and hap¬ 
piness and glory of Jesus. Man, so to speak, is 
made divine. A redemption has been accomplished 
which could never have been planned or performed 
except by a divine person. 

172 




The Son, during his mortal life here upon earth, 
had glorified the Father, he lived for Him. Now the 
Father glorifies the Son for all eternity. How en¬ 
couraging. Christ is our model if we live a Chris¬ 
tian life. Imitate our model, Jesus Christ. The 
Father will reward us with an eternal reward. 

When Jesus told us that there are many man¬ 
sions in the Kingdom of this Father, he meant that 
each and every mansion shall be given to us in pro¬ 
portion to our merit. 

The measure of our glory in heaven shall be in 
proportion as we resemble Jesus Christ here on 
earth. 

The ascension of our Jesus into heaven shows us 
why we are here in this world. The beautiful mes¬ 
sengers from God who stood near the blessed 
Mother and the apostles told them. Why do stand 
here idle, friends? Life is so precious. At every 
moment of time we can increase our merit and re¬ 
ward in the Kingdom of our Father. 

If we love Jesus we will long to be where He is in 
heaven, and although we will live here upon earth 
as long as the will of God desires it, yet this earthly 
life will be like a burden, a prison, a hindrance 


173 




which has to be endured with patience and resigna¬ 
tion, but we look up to Jesus in heaven as to our true 
Father, awaiting us in our true home—heaven. 

This most encouraging and consoling doctrine of 
our faith so clearly made manifest in the feast of 
to-day, should give us strength in the hour of trial. 
Poor human life, a real struggle upon earth, tears 
of babyhood, tears of childhood, bitter tears of riper 
years, tears around the coffin of the dear one, tears 
when poverty comes and we have not wherewith to 
feed the hungry little ones who ask for a piece of 
bread; tears around the sick bed; oh, truly we live 
in a vale of tears. Look up into heaven, see how our 
model acquired all that glory by his sufferings, and 
the sweet solacing grace of the passion of Jesus will 
bring grace superabundant, and the cross will be 
light and the merit and glory everlasting in the 
Kingdom of our Father. 


174 




^uttbap t©itf)tn tfie <H5ctabe of tfjc Stetemfton 


St. Peter in his admirable letter of to-day incul- 
cates charity, especially in using hospitality one 
towards another without murmuring, so that he 
says: “In all things God may be honored through 
Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

Far be it from me to tell you that you neglect 
hospitality, but I have good reasons to think that in 
most cases it is merely a question of entertaining 
some, as you call them, nice neighbors or friends, 
some wealthy people, and you want to make a show, 
a good impression, so that your visitors will praise 
you and call you generous, and that you entertained 
them well, but there was no supernatural motive 
whatever. 

Our entertaining was not perhaps like that of the 
first Christians, the lovefeast during which the 
greatest hospitality was practiced, for there was a 
good opportunity to show their consideration and 
true esteem for one another. 


175 





How these Christians realized the words of our 
Lord—whatsoever you do to the least of mine 
I shall consider as done to myself. It was all heart¬ 
felt, because they loved one another as children of 
their common Father, God, through the fellowship 
of Jesus Christ. 

I must say 'to you, friends, that this is a great 
Christian duty, and if you do these hospitable ac¬ 
tions for the sake of our Lord, your reward shall be 
great in the Kingdom of your Father. 

The best proof that you are a hospitable Chris¬ 
tian, that it comes from the heart prompted by a 
Christian motive, is the manner in which you per¬ 
form all these good and kind actions, and speak 
kind words to those at home, the home circle. 

Dear friends, were you to entertain strangers from 
morning till night, and work hard for them, and 
pass sleepless nights on account of it, thus sacrificing 
yourself, and yet should neglect those at home, you 
would incur the just reproach that he who neglects 
his household has lost the faith. 

It is the home where, through Christian motives, 
your hospitality should be practiced, so that the 
home for its inmate, parents and children, becomes 

176 




* 


the place they love best, and are most anxious to be, 
in the bosom of the family. 

My dear friends, we should live to make one 
another happy—friends, neighbors, even strangers, 
but our best love and service should go to those at 
home. 

If we would all do this, oh, how happy our homes 
would be, how the Christian spirit of union and 
brotherly love would dwell amongst us. 

Our greatest kindness, our sweetest gentleness, in 
words and actions should be for our own. There 
is Christianity, there is the home of happiness, that 
is the life which God wants us to lead. 

Now the majority of people are everything for 
visitors. They will go to extremes for them, work 
hard, prepare everything so carefully, the house and 
even the sidewalk get a thorough cleaning, the par¬ 
lor is perfect, the bedroom is spotless, the linen im¬ 
maculate. Wherever the visitor has to go, is so well 
cleaned. Why, it will be a pleasure to him. If 
there is anything wanting in linen or silverware, 
or glass or even bed-clothing, well, that is borrowed 
for the occasion. 


177 




Were I to see you busy I would imagine that you 
read this letter of St. Peter most carefully, and that 
you are truly hospitable; that you look upon your 
visitor as a Christian, another Christ, for whose sake 
you are willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of 
others. 

But, dearly beloved, do you really do, and are you 
really as anxious to do, for your own at home, your 
own flesh and blood, what you are doing for the 
visitor who will be with you a day or two, whilst 
your own are with you always? It is to them you 
owe more than to any stranger; it is on them that 
you should make that good and lasting impression, 
so that you will learn to appreciate home more and 
more, and live in greater charity and love. 

Familiarity has begotten neglect and contempt. 
Home is not what it should be. When a stranger 
comes, the very best of everything is prepared. How 
careful we are about our appearance; even the chil¬ 
dren are dressed neatly for the time being. They are 
told what to say, how to greet the stranger, how to be¬ 
have in his presence, and when the visitor comes, oh, 
how we greet them! A thousand welcomes; words are 
not strong enough to express our great pleasure (and 
often we do not mean it at all). But when our own 

178 






come home, perhaps from work or other duties, even 
from a visit, we scarcely notice them; we do not 
even give them a smile; rather, if the weather 
should happen to be bad, and if they are not very 
careful, we have a scolding ready for them. Of 
course in the visitor we mind nothing—mud, spill¬ 
ing eatables or drink, why, that is all right. 

What kind words we have for them. In general 
I might say that whilst visiting we get kind treat¬ 
ment. Well, the heathens did this, but as soon as 
we come home, and often we hate to go there, it is 
unkindness and neglect. How wrong this is. 

My dear friends, judge what impression all this 
makes on your husband or wife and children. 
Cleanliness is Godliness, and true charity is genuine 
Christianity, and if you will make your homes what 
they should be, you will culture yourself and all 
those at home unto true civilization—Christian in¬ 
fluence. 

Our best words, from the heart, words of excuse, 
words of appreciation, words of kindness and genu¬ 
ine charity, not flattery, should be for those at home. 
Is it not the case, however, that having lost all re¬ 
spect and devotion for those at home, we speak to 
them like demons, but as to strangers, like angels. 

179 




0 friends, give me the home, although there may 
be no wealth, no great display of dishes and orna¬ 
ments ; no, an humble home. Perhaps there is only 
bread and butter, but there <are smiling and loving 
faces, the little is served with neatness and love, the 
best there is, is served to the loved ones at home. 
All there is of kindness and love in the heart stays 
in the home for the sake of Jesus Christ. That 
home is the home God loves and Jesus indwells. 


180 




Pentecost ^unbap 


The days of the Pentecost are complete. The fif¬ 
tieth day after Easter has dawned, and the Blessed 
Virgin, surrounded by the apostles, were awaiting 
the fulfillment of the promise of their dear Master, 
who ten days ago promised to send the Holy Ghost. 

And He comes. The blessed Mother with out¬ 
stretched hands heavenward leads the prayer of the 
apostles, and suddenly He comes to make known 
His presence, a powerful wind encircles the hall, 
fiery tongues appear above the head of each one; 
they are filled with the Holy Ghost, the burning love 
of God. The paraclete whom Christ had promised 
has come, and the love of God is infused in the 
hearts of those who received Him in person, and 
He brought with Him the seven fold gift of God. 

He comes in person and hovers over the mystic 
body of Jesus, the Church, and like the breath of 
God, the Creator breathed into the lifeless body of 
Adam an immortal soul, so the Holy Spirit comes to 
181 





Pentecost came to the Apostles; Pentecost comes 
to each individual on Confirmation day just as Jesus 
called down the Holy Ghost upon His apostles, so 
when the bishop outstretches his consecrated hands 
to heaven, and calls down the Holy Spirit, Jesus 
sends him and he comes, the third person of the 
Blessed Trinity, and stamps upon that soul a mark 
which tells that this soul is his own, and imparts 
a strength which is of God, a strength that baffles 
all the snares and powers of flesh and blood and 
Satan combined. It is the gift of fortitude. 

Passions are strong, and the deceitful and the 
cunning demons and our own natural weakness in 
unguarded moments have overcome us and we fall. 
There we lie in sin unable to help ourselves. But 
the Holy Spirit moves that soul, all the sacramen¬ 
tal graces shall not be in vain. That soul is stirred 
with true repentance; the heart, broken with sorrow, 
pours ou its 'tears of contrition; the fear of God, the 
beginning of wisdom, has taken possession of that 
soul. Father, I have sinned against heaven and 
thee. Here comes the Holy Ghost, and when the 
words of absolution are spoken He cleanses that soul 
as clean as if it never sinned, 


m 




The day is bright and sunny. Near God’s altar 
that morning stands a modest young girl clad in 
garments of joy. Near her stands the virtuous 
young man who offers to stand by her through life 
to protect her virtue, to be one until death do them 
part. The pastor stands by as the witness of the 
church, who will declare that at God’s altar, during 
the solemn sacrifice of the mass, they are really man 
and wife. Then the Holy Ghost, by his special grace 
of that sacrament, unites them into one, even as 
Jesus and His Church are one, and strengthens their 
souls with graces strong and lasting, to be Chris¬ 
tians, to be father and mother unto the honor and 
glory and propagation of the Church of Jesus Christ. 

Impressed by the holiness of the sanctuary, in¬ 
spired by a special whispering of the Holy Ghost, 
a young man leads a pure life, his aspirations lead 
him into the sanctuary of God. Ordination day 
comes, and whilst lying prostrate at the foot of the 
altar, and the bishop holds outstretched hands over 
him, the Holy Ghost, like He did to the Apostles 
on to-day, fills that soul with superhuman strength 
and powers. He lifts him above the natural; He 
makes him another Christ to perpetuate the mission 
of the Son of God, a man-God, so to speak. He 

185 




steps up to the altar and speaks words divine, and 
Jesus comes. Like Christ he forgives sin, he fulfills 
the command of Christ, he preaches, he baptizes 
those committed to his care. Truly another Christ 
in our midst. 

And our day has come and the hour is near when 
we must bid farewell to earth. Death is agonizing 
us; the priest of God comes to us to give us our last 
Holy Communion. Oh, may we receive it with even 
greater fervor, devotion and purity than when we 
received it for the first ime. But more, he anoints 
all our senses with consecrated oil. It is our great 
battle for life eternal. Our arch enemy, the devil, 
is at hand, but so also is the Holy Ghost, and whilst 
the sacred minister of God administers that sacra¬ 
ment to us dying, great strength of will power is 
given to us from above. The grace of strength is so 
powerful that our wills are proof against all snares 
and temptations of the evil one. The Holy Ghost 
has done his work. He has put his seal of sanctity 
upon our soul. The image of Christ is there reflect¬ 
ing the beauty of God as rechiselled in us by the 
work of the Holy Spirit. Our body fails, our soul 
leaves earth for heaven. 


186 




And so he sanctifies each soul, every member of 
the church of Jesus, and thus the whole church, to 
bring the part militant unto the part triumphant 
with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost forever. 




Crinitp Jsuntmp 

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 


Last Sunday the Church celebrated the coming 
down of the Holy Ghost upon the Blessed Mother 
and the Apostles, and the Spirit of God filled the 
whole earth. 

To-day, supposing that we, her children, have 
been filled with the same Holy Spirit, she places be¬ 
fore us the adorable mystery of the most Blessed 
Trinity, to-day being called Trinity Sunday, or the 
Sunday set apart for that feast. 

Incomprehensible above all human understand¬ 
ing, because it is the nature of God and therefore 
infinite, and as such a most appropriate object of 
our faith. Yes, it is a mystery; that is, our finite in¬ 
tellects cannot adequately understand it, but al¬ 
though above, yet not against our intellect. 

There is but one intellect which can perfectly and 
completely grasp the divine nature of God, and that 
is the divine intellect. 


188 





And what does the holy Mother Church teach us 
about God, the Trinity, the three divine persons in 
that one divine nature? 

Can your mind, even if you allow your imagina¬ 
tion full scope, go back into the past and further 
and further, and stretch across millions and mil¬ 
lions of centuries? Repeat that process, and spend a 
lifetime in going back further and further. Did you 
exhaust the eternal? Impossible. God is. What 
folly to pile up centuries by the millions. It is not 
even a drop in the shoreless, boundless ocean of eter¬ 
nity. 

Now God simply is, was and will be, belong to us; 
we were and will be; God is. Yet in our way of 
speaking, for human, finite language cannot express 
what God is, He always is from all eternity. Our 
thought cannot reach this through imagination, but 
forces us to say, if God, he must be eternal. He has 
no beginning. He simply is the very simplicity and 
absoluteness of being, eternal, self-existing being, 
having within Himself the very reason why He and 
He alone is eternal, therefore absolute, necessary, 
beyond all created things, He the cause of them all. 
Let us ask the Holy Ghost to understand God in as 

189 




far as human intellect can reach truth eternal and 
divine. 

That eternal God, because God, must possess all 
knowledge in an infinite idea or image of Himself, 
expressing Himself in a perfect and complete and 
adequate idea, not passing nor diminishing, not cre¬ 
ated, but absolutely necessary to the very nature of 
God. He must be self-known, self-expressed in that 
eternal image of His own divine being, by and in the 
divine being, truly the image of God’s being; there 
is God the Son begotten by and in the divine intel¬ 
lect, which could not possibly exist one second or 
moment without expressing that divine image, hence 
God the .Son, the image of the being of the Father, 
being perfectly like the Father, is equal to Him, is 
as eternal as the Father, equal in every divine per¬ 
fection of the Godhead, of the one divine nature. 

But how could the eternal Father see His own 
divine image, God the Son, and the Son, His own 
divine Father, without an eternal love uniting the 
two in an eternal union, for the Father could not 
be one second without seeing His divine .Son, and the 
two could not be for one second without loving each 
other by an eternal, absolute and infinite love. That 
love is the Holy Ghost, truly called the love of God, 

190 





the necessary and absolute personality of the Holy 
Ghost who unites Father and Son in the one divine 
nature or essence. 

The divine nature or essence is not the Father, 
not the Son, nor the Holy Ghost, <as distinct essences 
or natures, but in that essence or nature the three 
divine persons are and constitute in their eternal 
union the one divine essence. 

0 depth of the mysteries of God! How unfath¬ 
omable and yet so simple. Could a child imagine a 
rational human being without expressing in his 
mind an image of himself and loving it? Cannot a 
child, by self-consciousness, easily understand that 
it can think and recall the past and look into the 
future, and exercise its will power, thus exercising 
three distinct faculties in the one soul, the very im¬ 
age of the adorable Trinity? 

The day is clear, a strong, brilliant sun is shin¬ 
ing directly into a clear, calm ocean. It is a perfect 
mirror. There is the sun’s image in that stream, 
reflected perfectly, and the warm rays which the sun 
pours upon the stream are reflected back to the sun 
in light and heat. See those rays of light and heat. 
They form in the sea the perfect image of the King 

191 




of day, and the heat comes back from that ocean, 
vibrating back towards the source whence they came, 
and the sun and his image are united and acted and 
reacted upon by the stream of light and heat. Com¬ 
parison very material, yet it is only by comparison 
that we poor, finite creatures can catch a slight 
glimpse of the divinity. 

Stand before a perfect mirror. There is your im¬ 
age, clear and perfect. Every motion, every look, 
every smile is returned as given by the original. A 
few rays of light cast upon the mirror and they are 
reflected. Oh, but in God, infinite perfection, es¬ 
sentially spirit, mirrors itself in its own divine intel¬ 
lect, not at a distance like the sun from, the ocean, 
nor the person from the mirror, but essentially one 
with infinite unity. Hence God is simplicity itself. 
All is but one act, and yet in that one divine nature 
or essence, by that one eternal, simple, divine act 
there are the three divine persons. 

A pure, true, saintly soul kneels in prayer. She 
seems to see God; she does; her faith holds Him so 
near her. She needs not even .a picture to remind 
her. She realizes the divine presence. Her will 
leans upon God’s word through the promise of 
Christ. There is her confidence or hope, through 

192 




prayer, and her heart warms to God in divine char¬ 
ity. She is filled with the three divine or so-called 
theological virtues; she reaches the Trinity; she re¬ 
flects the three divine persons in her soul. 

When the second person of the Blessed Trinity 
assumed our human nature, because the three divine 
persons are essentially inseparable, we say God, 
through the personality of the Son, assumed our 
nature. 

In Holy Communion Jesus comes to us, yes, 
through His body and blood. The personality of 
the second person must be there, for his two natures 
are inseparable, and because the divine persons are 
inseparable really and truly, God comes to us 
through the personality of Jesus, the God-man. 

Brethren, how we poor creatures are assumed by 
and through Christ into the adorable Trinity, rather 
than study or indulge in deep theological discus¬ 
sion, in true humble submission and faith in the 
word of God, let us say, I believe, and for proof of 
it I have the divine influence of that blessed Trin¬ 
ity in my heart through the elevating power of the 
Church. 


193 




of day, and the heat comes hack from that ocean, 
vibrating back towards the source whence they came, 
and the sun and his image are united and acted and 
reacted upon by the stream of light and heat. Com¬ 
parison very material, yet it is only by comparison 
that we poor, finite creatures can catch a slight 
glimpse of the divinity. 

Stand before a perfect mirror. There is your im¬ 
age, clear and perfect. Every motion, every look, 
every smile is returned as given by the original. A 
few rays of light cast upon the mirror and they are 
reflected. Oh, but in God, infinite perfection, es¬ 
sentially spirit, mirrors itself in its own divine intel¬ 
lect, not at a distance like the sun from, the ocean, 
nor the person from the mirror, but essentially one 
with infinite unity. Hence God is simplicity itself. 
All is but one act, and yet in that one divine nature 
or essence, by that one eternal, simple, divine act 
there are the three divine persons. 

A pure, true, saintly soul kneels in prayer. She 
seems to see God; she does; her faith holds Him so 
near her. She needs not even a picture to remind 
her. She realizes the divine presence. Her will 
leans upon God’s word through the promise of 
Christ. There is her confidence or hope, through 

192 




prayer, and her heart warms to God in divine char¬ 
ity. She is filled with the three divine or so-called 
theological virtues; she reaches the Trinity; she re¬ 
flects the three divine persons in her soul. 

When the second person of the Blessed Trinity 
assumed our human nature, because the three divine 
persons are essentially inseparable, we say God, 
through the personality of the Son, assumed our 
nature. 

In Holy Communion Jesus comes to us, yes, 
through His body and blood. The personality of 
the second person must be there, for his two natures 
are inseparable, and because the divine persons are 
inseparable really and truly, God comes to us 
through the personality of Jesus, the God-man. 

Brethren, how we poor creatures are assumed by 
and through Christ into the adorable Trinity, rather 
than study or indulge in deep theological discus¬ 
sion, in true humble submission and faith in the 
word of God, let us say, I believe, and for proof of 
it I have the divine influence of that blessed Trin¬ 
ity in my heart through the elevating power of the 
Church. 


193 




^ttonii ^utilmp lifter Pentecost 


To-day we read from the letter of St. John. He 
says: “He that hath the substance of this world, and 
shall see his brother in need, and shall put up his 
bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide 
in him?” 

You readily see from these words that as Chris* 
tians we must love the poor and be charitable 
towards them. 

How we are charmed when some one gifted 
strikes a musical instrument. Every fibre and nerve 
within us vibrate, and our souls are lifted up from 
mere matter. 

The most soul-stirring instrument is the human 
heart. There is but one cord strung upon it. It 
can vibrate in every key, and to every note, it is 
love. 

The human heart cannot live without it. Love is 
the life of the heart. It leads it, it stirs it, it makes 


194 





it grow heroic, and it knows no sacrifice too great. 
It conquers all. 

How beautifully and naturally it unites mother 
and child, sister and brother, father and mother, 
friends and relatives, those who are kind to us, those 
who are beautiful. 

But in all these, is there not a return to self? Do 
we not really love ourselves in them? 

Love is divine, and unless the touch of divinity 
is in it, unless there is the supernatural underlying 
it, it is only self-love. 

God loves us not for self-interest or for any ben¬ 
efit to be derived from it for Himself, but from con¬ 
descension, and from His desire to make us happy. 
So Jesus loves us for the sake of His Father. There 
is Christian charity or love for the poor; there is the 
practical expression of what Christ taught and His 
Apostle expressed when he said: Religion, clean and 
undefiled, before God and the Father is this—to 
visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation 
(St. James). 

The practice of our holy religion is beautiful and 
consoling, especially when you have a nice church, 

195 




well furnished, and an elegant altar, the little light 
shining upon the door of the tabernacle. Oh, how 
nice it is to kneel before the altar and adore Jesus 
and drink in, with a loving heart, the many holy 
inspirations which books and sermons cannot re¬ 
veal, to hear Mass, to be at Benediction, to receive 
Holy Communion. It is all so nice. 

Yes, and our fervent feelings always make us 
bold. We want to bring flowers; we get leave to take 
care of the altar; the linen is so spotless; the vest¬ 
ments are in perfect condition. Why? It all be¬ 
longs to Jesus, and we cannot do enough. Thank 
God, brethren, we have such people in our midst 
who do this, and I as pastor appreciate it very much, 
and bless those who do all these loving actions for 
our Lord. 

And yet there is so much consolation and spirit¬ 
ual joy arising from all this, but, oh, let us remem¬ 
ber what Jesus said: What you shall do to the least 
of mine I will consider as done to myself. 

We must learn to see Jesus in the poor, to go to 
them in their poverty, to console them and help 
them for the sake of Jesus, giving to them as we 
would give to Jesus, and not letting our left hand 

196 




know what our right hand gives. Here is true re¬ 
ligion—practical Christianity. 

To love the poor, to sympathize with them, to 
speak kind, consoling words to them is the noblest 
trait of the human heart if all these things be done 
for the sake of Jesus Christ. 

No reward is to be expected for all this in this 
world. I mean temporal reward, but oh, great shall 
be our reward in heaven, where a reward shall be 
given for a cup of cold water, given in the name of 
Jesus. 

If we would practice that divine virtue of charity 
to the poor we would not need state asylums, county 
poor farms and the like. The really deserving poor 
who have self-respect would rather die of hunger, 
yes starve, than to go to a public asylum or to go 
and beg. 

Is it their fault that they are poor? It may be a 
drunken husband, people too lazy to work, but in 
most cases it is the result of sickness or death taking 
away the support of the family. 

Behold a good Christian mother with several chil¬ 
dren; her husband is dead, and she, strong in her 

197 





faith, understands too well a mother’s duty to her 
children. They can help very little or nothing; 
hunger comes, and when her children ask for bread 
she can give only a kiss and tears. They plead they 
are starving. She is more hungry than all the rest. 
Friends, men and women, for God’s sake go; do not 
come to church before you have brought relief to 
that home. God and I will excuse you on such an 
occasion. 

Did I describe to you an imaginary case? Oh, no, 
there are many families in such distress, and on 
many an occasion poor children and poor mothers 
have to go to bed or spend the day without a morsel 
to eat, not a stick of wood to keep them warm, nor 
sufficient clothing to cover their nakedness. Hear 
them weep. There is the music that should reach 
not only our ears, but our hearts, and we should 
bring relief. 

In most parishes in which there are poor, and 
generally there are poor in every parish who are in 
need, but self-respecting poor (do not call it pride) 
who are ashamed to beg, who even with the little 
they have try to dress neatly and clean, and often 
when a smile lights up the face, hunger is gnawing 
at the very vitals. There are charitable persons, and 


198 




give liberally to the pastor, not for himself, hut for 
those good deserving poor. 

These poor people have no outlet for their need 
except the heart of the pastor, their father in God. 
Even then their hearts break when forced to unveil 
their need. 0 friends, to relieve them and bury the 
act of charity in the bosom of God. What great re¬ 
ward, for the hand of the poor is the richest soil in 
God’s church. 

How much money is squandered, and with it how 
many, very many, poor could be relieved? 

Do you wish to secure God’s blessing? Do you 
desire to keep poverty from your door? Do you 
wish to provide for your children and keep them 
out of asylums when you die? Be charitable to the 
poor, give abundant alms, just as you wish to be 
charitable to Jesus and make him offerings, and you 
will show you are a true Christian by your charity to 
the poor. 


199 




din* ^unfcap aittet Pentecost 


To-day’s letter is from St. Peter: “Be you hum¬ 
bled under the mighty hand of God, that He may 
exalt you in the time of visitation, casting all your 
care upon Him, for He hath care of you.” 

Truly, this is a selfish world. Everybody looks out 
for himself. There is in us an anxiety to have plenty, 
or rather to have more than enough. We must pro¬ 
vide for a rainy day; sickness may come; so-called 
misfortune may befall us, and we must be prepared 
for it. 

Well, this is all right, and we should provide. God 
wants us to do this, and let us do it like conscien¬ 
tious Christians, not at the cost of the practice of our 
faith, or with over-anxiety, always excited and ner¬ 
vous, ever afraid lest God might forget us, overlook¬ 
ing His Fatherly care and divine Providence over us. 

This has given rise to many a fault and sin—want 
of confidence in God—almost shaping our lives as if 
there were no God. 


200 






How well the Apostle exhorts us to be humbled 
under the mighty hand of God. Let us remember 
that we depend entirely upon Him, and that all our 
efforts are useless and vain unless He is with us. In 
vain we build unless God builds, in vain we watch 
unless God watches. 

Our Lord condemns that want of confidence in 
His Father when he says: Why are you so solicit¬ 
ous about the things to eat or drink or about cloth¬ 
ing? Your Father in heaven knows that you stand 
in need of these. Will He forget? If you do His 
holy will and do what you can He will provide. 

On what can we rely in this world? Money—how 
foolish. Many a wealthy person lost all. Cannot 
banks fail; cannot fire destroy homes; cannot rob¬ 
bers steal; cannot those who borrowed prove false? 
Do we rely on friends or relatives, and are they not 
exposed to the same risks? What is human friend¬ 
ship? 0 let me look and search for one purely 
human heart which remains true under all circum¬ 
stances. Cannot every one of you look back to the 
past and find treachery even in some who you 
thought were true and genuine? And health, what 
is it? To-day we have it and enjoy it, to-morrow 
201 




it is attacked by sickness. God alone is reliable be¬ 
cause unchangeable. 

But God who knows our needs is all powerful, 
and He who loved us so, as to give us His only be¬ 
gotten Son will certainly and very readily give us 
the things which we need here in this world for 
our support. 

The great danger for us is that no sooner do we 
get along well and see plenty at our disposal, we, 
through forgetfulness, become self-sufficient. We 
begin to feel safe in this world, and we begin to 
overlook the fact that every good gift comes from 
above, and in a great many ways we live without 
God. We rely upon the things we possess. 

Almighty God, if He sees that we are not humbled 
under His mighty hand, that we forget Him and 
imagine that we can do without Him, sends us some 
misfortune, as the Apostle says, to recall us to a sense 
of our duty; that He may exalt us in the time of 
visitation; to teach us the great lesson; to cast all 
our care upon Him, for he hath care of us. 

Unless God does this to us when we forget Him, 
it might be a sign that he has cast us away and lets 
us live in that blindness, and that we are not any 
202 




longer worthy of his visitation, so He will not ex¬ 
alt us. 

God is always more desirous about the good of 
our soul than of our body, and if we first look to the 
good of our soul He will help us in everything we 
need. 

Friends, let us come home to ourselves. When 
God gave us a good home and plenty to eat and 
drink, did we ever thank Him for His gifts? Are 
there not families who never say a prayer before and 
after meals, and never think of giving thanks to 
God for His blessings? The only thing uppermost 
in their minds is the good meal and the good things 
to eat, but they never think of God, who gives it all. 

Ingratitude to God is a very common and ugly 
fault with most people, and it is on account of this 
fault that God tries us. 

We should rely upon God with childlike simplic¬ 
ity, feeling convinced that God will never forget us; 
that He loves us the Apostle says, “He hath care 
of us.” If we try to serve God rightly, we should 
feel as secure under the guidance of divine Provi¬ 
dence as a child resting in the arms and upon the 

203 





heart of its mother. It feels perfectly safe, and we 
should do as the Apostle advises—cast all care upon 
God. 

In the time of the Franco-Prussian war most im¬ 
portant messages had to be sent to the chief general. 
A train was started, only one coach and engine; 
about ten persons were in the coach; the child of 
the engineer was amongst them; the train rolled 
and rocked and leaped, ready to leave the track at 
any moment. All were alarmed and frightened ex¬ 
cept the little child. When asked why, it smiled 
when all the grown-up people were scared, it an¬ 
swered: “My papa is on the engine, and he knows 
that I am here. I feel all right.” 

Beloved brethren, when shall we learn that lesson? 
Cast all our care on God, our Father in heaven, who 
loves us, who is able to protect us, who is leading us 
to His own home; is at the helm of creation; from all 
eternity He knows us well; He formed the whole 
physical creation for us. How safe and secure we 
should be, humbling ourselves under the mighty 
hand of God, and perfectly secure, trusting in His 
fatherly love and care. 


204 




How happy are those who understand this lesson. 
They do what they can; they pray and work as if 
success depended on them, and work for God. The 
result is left to God. If failure comes in this world, 
God will exalt them in the time of visitation. They 
shall never be deceived, for they have cast all their 
care upon Him, and knowing that of self they can 
do nothing, they give all honor and glory to Him. 




jfourtt) Jtontmp after Pentecost 


I read from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans: 
“Brethren, I reckon that the sufferings of this time 
are not worthy to be compared with the glory to 
come that shall be revealed in us. 

The Almighty made us for infinite happiness, 
not for suffering, and therefore it is so natural for 
us to hate suffering or trials. We abhor suffering, 
and we do everything in our power to avoid it. 

And yet since the fall of our first parents, suffer¬ 
ings have become the necessary and inevitable com¬ 
panion of human nature. God did not will it when 
He made us. His plan was to let us be happy, never 
to suffer neither sickness nor hunger nor cold nor 
death, but to live happy in that beautiful state of 
innocence, and without death He would have given 
us heaven. 

We, by sin, brought all misfortunes and miseries 
and sufferings. So we should not murmur or com¬ 
plain or blame no one but ourselves. 

200 





Now Jesus Christ did us the greatest favor to turn 
the effects of sin, a curse, into a blessing by his pas¬ 
sion and death. 

The law is inexorable. Only through trials and 
tribulations can we enter into the Kingdom of 
heaven. Write it in your minds and hearts, as well 
as upon the walls of your homes—“no cross, no 
crown.” 

Do you want to upset the saying of our dear 
Lord: The disciple is not above the Master. If you 
wish to be my disciple take up the cross and follow 
me. 

When the good mother asked Our Lord to place 
her two sons, one on his left and the other on his 
right, in His Kingdom, what did He answer? Can 
they drink the chalice of my passion? 

Christ gave us the example. He was sinless, inno¬ 
cent, and yet He suffers most, even the death of the 
cross. 

He made it a necessary condition of salvation to 
take up our cross and to follow Him. 

Look how He treats those who are dearest and 
nearest to Him, His own blessed Mother. He makes 


?07 




her the Queen of Martyrs by letting her suffer most 
terribly on His account, her whole life full of anx¬ 
iety about him, and finally seeing Him suffer, die. 
She, too, was sinless and innocent. 

His apostles undergo martyrdom. They are per¬ 
secuted. In fact He tells them that they will be 
hated by the world. 

How could we ever merit heaven and its everlast¬ 
ing rewards if we never have any suffering, cross or 
trial? Do you want to enjoy health and plenty 
means to live, no sickness, nice weather, no death, 
not even any contradictions or wrong sayings or do¬ 
ings by neighbors or so-called friends. Well, after 
a long, prosperous, cloudless life you want to die a 
very easy death, and of course no purgatory. Oh, 
indeed not; the Lord should be waiting for you, and 
send an army of angels to meet you and bring you 
triumphantly into heaven. Why? It was through 
suffering and death that Jesus, your model, entered 
into His Kingdom, and you want better treatment 
than Our Lord. The road to Calvary is the only 
road to the Resurrection. 

Christ gave the example, all the saints followed 
Him, and therefore it is the only road to heaven. 

208 




Without suffering or trials we cannot merit, and 
since trials and sufferings are the necessary compan¬ 
ions of human nature, let us make a virtue of neces¬ 
sity and turn those necessary evils of poor, fallen 
human nature into a source of blessing or heavenly 
reward. 

It has been well said, “What cannot be cured 
must be endured.” Let us not only be resigned, but 
brave, and make life not only bearable but heroic 
and meritorious by uniting the sufferings or trials of 
our state of life to the sufferings of our Lord. 

When God sends us trials it is a sign of His love. 
He gives us the means of meriting, the means of 
atoning for the past, and like an experienced miner, 
who throws the good ore into the furnace in order to 
separate the dross from the gold, so God purifies 
in us, through suffering our self-love, and teaches 
us to love the cross in order to imitate Him. 

God is the best physician of our soul, and there¬ 
fore He gives to every one that particular cross or 
trial which is best for each of us, that particular 
medicine which if taken with humble submission 
to the will of God, will without fail cure us, and 
make us perfect in His sight. 

209 




It would indeed be no cross or suffering if it did 
not hurt. We are all willing to take a cross, yes, one 
of His flowers or nice ornaments, but the cross of 
Christ with its thorns and scourges and ignominy, 
oh, that hurts. We murmur, we cry and feel des¬ 
pondent, and wonder why God should afflict us so. 

We almost doubt God’s justice. Why, there are 
many who never go near the church who lead a bad 
life, and they get along and seem to live happy. 0 
ye of little faith, God is rewarding these people 
with the temporal things of this world, as He can¬ 
not give them heaven, and because He wants to crown 
you in heaven, and try you here in this world. Are 
you jealous of them? Do you begrudge them the 
paltry things of this world? Do you think that you 
are an exception to the law of God? Stop a mo¬ 
ment, reflect upon the words the Apostle wrote: I 
reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy 
to be compared with the glory to come. 

Look at the cross in the light of Christ, look at 
it in the light of the Resurrection, and you will 
learn not to murmur but to love trials and crosses, 
as means to make you similar to Jesus Christ, your 
model, and to secure greater reward in heaven. 

210 




The greatest saints who understood this, prayed 
to God to suffer or to die, for grace to suffer more, 
and like the apostles, they rejoiced when they could 
suffer something for the sake of their Master. 

Put aside all murmuring. Thank God He gave 
you a cross, embrace it, raise it to your shoulder, 
and bravely walk in the footsteps of the great Master 
to Calvary and thus to heaven. 


211 




JFift!) Jsun&ap after t^entecost 


The whole letter of St. Peter, which we read to¬ 
day, is so full of useful and practical instructions 
that I have only to call your attention to it, and we 
will learn how to live in peace and happiness with 
our fellowmen. 

The Apostle tells us to be of one mind. Now, 
dear friends, how can that possibly be when there 
are thousands of different opinions and notions that 
sway the mind of most people. Why, we may well 
say that there are not two persons who think alike. 

Yet the Apostle tells us be of one mind. Do you 
not see that our minds should clearly understand the 
beautiful and easy law of God in regard to our fel¬ 
lowmen, that whatsoever is done to the least of them 
he considers as done to himself. Now, if we would 
be thoroughly convinced of this, we would all be of 
one mind, and we would all try to imitate our model, 
Jesus Christ. 

We must have compassion, one of another. How 


212 





our hearts should go forth, first to those of our own 
household, and then to all friends and neighbors, 
being, as the Apostle says, lovers of the Brotherhood. 
Yes, love one another as children of God and broth¬ 
ers of Jesus Christ. 

Then we will be merciful. How readily will we 
excuse one another, find reasons for overlooking the 
faults of our neighbor, never judging the motives of 
others, because, as the Apostle says, we will be mod¬ 
est and humble; we will see our own unworthiness 
and nothingness, and convinced that we are not as 
perfect as we should be, that we too have sinned in 
the past; we shall remain humble and modest, and 
not dare to find fault with others or condemn them. 

Far will it be from us to render evil for evil, or 
look for revenge when God had patience with us, and 
forgave our sins; and bears up with those who are 
offending Him. 

We will not answer unkind or harsh words, or as 
St. Peter says, railing for railing, but how forgiving 
and noble. We will answer with a blessing. Yes, 
the true answer of a genuine Christian is: I leave 
it all to God. May God bless them. 

213 




St. Peter tells us that we are called unto this, that 
we may inherit a blessing. Where is that blessing, 
the peace and happiness which we would all inherit, 
if we would be of one mind and love the Brother¬ 
hood? The blessing that God would give us, as St. 
Peter says, “The eyes of the Lord are upon the just 
and his ears unto their prayers.” 

Here upon earth there can be no greater com¬ 
fort and joy and happiness than to live in a home 
in which all are of one mind, so united in brotherly 
love, no unkind words are ever spoken but words 
of compassion, of love. The children, brothers and 
sisters love one another dearly, and they all together 
love their father and mother. Truly it is the home 
of God, and God blesses them and hears their 
prayers. 

Now we should act towards one another and to 
speak to one another as brothers and sisters who 
love one another very dearly, in their Father, God, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

How often have we heard it said, leave yourself 
become broad-minded and noble hearted to man¬ 
kind. Well, there is true philanthropy, about which 
the world boasts so much, and yet which it does not 
practice—true love of our fellowmen. 


214 




There will be no distinction of race or color or 
exterior beauty or wealth. Wherever there is a 
human being, to that human being we extend 
mercy, compassion and love. 

That is precisely what God does in every human 
being. He sees His image—for every human being 
Jesus Christ died, every human being can obtain life 
everlasting. 

Now we should try to divest ourselves of, to shake 
off, that narrowmindedness which belittles our minds 
and narrows our hearts. 

A good word for all, a smile, a good act, so that we 
will destroy heartaches and anxiety and dispel gloom 
and sorrow and create a cheerful spirit amongst our 
friends and neighbors. 

A genuine, cheerful Christian spreads joy and 
happiness. They live to make others happy. Here 
is God’s life; all He does is to make us happy. 

That cheerful disposition cultivated in our souls 
through a correct understanding of the example of 
our Lord lights up every home of gloom, of poverty, 
of sickness, even the room of death in which the 
corpse of a loved one is lying. 

215 




It makes us all to all, as Jesus was. We weep with 
the sorrowing, we sympathize with the afflicted, we 
console, we uplift the sad and the despondent, and 
how by our kindness we enter into their hearts, and 
bring them unto hope, thus lifting them to God. We 
thus become other Christs, and make even the poor 
and the abandoned of one mind and one heart. 

When a Christian goes forth out of self and brings 
hope to the heart of the afflicted, he is really a phil¬ 
anthropist, he ie truly a cirriziler in the correct sense 
of the word, humanitarian, because Christ assumed 
our nature and brought it blessings. 

Look upon so merciful, so gentle, so sympathetic 
a life, so full of Christian devotion and love, all in 
imitation of Christ, all under the eye of our common 
Father, God, for the good of the Brotherhood, as St. 
Peter says, and we may well add, there is genuine 
Christianity, which lights up and lifts the world, 
which regenerates the world and brings it to God by 
the practice of the noblest virtue—Charity. 


216 




<£txtf) ^tmbap lifter Pentecost 


Letter from St. Paul to the Romans: “You are 
alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

The problem of life is the great study of to-day. 
How did it begin, how is it increased and perfected, 
how can it be made new and vigorous to withstand 
the attacks of sickness, to keep death away as long 
as possible, to enjoy the best health. 

These are all questions about which we are very 
much concerned, and in case our health is not what 
it should be, we are alarmed and look for remedies 
and the advice of experienced physicians. 

All this is very praiseworthy, and we should do 
all we can to be healthy, so as to make life agree¬ 
able, not so much for ourselves as for others, because 
experience shows that when our health is not what 
it should be we become fretful and feverish and 
cranky. 

Remember we are talking about human life, the 
life of a rational being, the compound of a spiritual 

217 





being, the soul, and of a material part called the 
body, the two being very harmoniously united in 
one, called man. 

The soul acts most powerfully upon the body. 
The soul is the principle of human life in its three¬ 
fold action, as a spirit, as the supporting principle 
of the body, as the acting and governing principle of 
human life, that is of man. 

When the intellect of man guides and the will 
causes man to follow that guidance, we call that act 
a human act. As long as the soul is in the body, 
united to it into the being man, there is life, human 
life. Now, there is our existence in this world, the 
term or period of our life, a series of consecutive 
actions performed by man until death comes to call 
us. 


If we merely allow our feelings to lead us through 
life, our life is that of the senses, it is merely an an¬ 
imal life. If we take our intellect and will and fol¬ 
low them we lead a human or a rational life; but if 
we have our minds enlightened by faith and our 
wills strengthened by the help that God gives us 
through Christ, and follow their guidance, we have 
human life supernaturalized, and in our earthly life, 
218 




thus elevated to God through Christ, we lead a 
divine life, the life of which St. Paul speaks when 
he says: “You are alive unto God in Christ Jesus 
our Lord.” 

That new life is a pure gift of God, which in His 
mercy He is willing to infuse into our very nature 
if we will make good use of it,, and make it grow unto 
perfection by using the means which he has placed 
at our disposal. 

That new life is necessary for salvation, as our 
Lord clearly said: “Unless a man be reborn of water 
and of the Holy Ghost he cannot enter the kingdom 
of heaven.” A new, not material, but spiritual 
birth, from and through the spouse of Jesus Christ, 
the fruitful mother of the children of God. 

It is entirely a new life, not for the soul alone, 
but likewise for the body, for man, affecting his nat¬ 
ural life so intimately that it will raise man—that is, 
both soul and body, unto divinity. 

Now, unless we have this new life, that life which 
Christ brought to us by His sufferings and death, 
we may possess physical health and wealth and enjoy 
the pleasures of this world and become very promi¬ 
nent, well known and popular, but we never rise 

219 




above flesh and blood, and our life, eaten by every 
breath we draw, is carried away by time. Our life is 
simply a chain of daily actions, each of which takes 
so much of life, wearing away our strength and 
vitality to end in the grave. 

The new life, which rises above the senses and 
places us in a new world, makes us live beyond the 
grave, and opens new and loftier truths to the mind, 
and places before our craving hearts a new world of 
infinite happiness, is the only life worth living. 

What a great misfortune it is to see thousands of 
well meaning people, naturally smart and clever, 
even brilliant minds with hearts longing for some¬ 
thing higher than the mere satisfaction of tho 
senses, complete strangers to that supernatural life. 
Many of them have not the slightest idea of that 
divine life. 

Now, dear friends, Christ has given us that life. 
As the Apostle expresses it: “You are alive unto 
God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Do you appreciate this divine gift, and do you 
feed and support that divine life in you? 

220 




Look at the babe of a poor mother, then at the 
one of the rich. Excepting the dress there is no dif¬ 
ference in the outward looks and appearance, but 
what a difference as regards the circumstances which 
surround the two. One has at its disposal all the 
wealth and fortune of its wealthy parents. It is 
born heir to large fortunes. Its prospects in life are 
gratifying, its future provided for, wealth is await¬ 
ing, ready to satisfy its every wish in a fine home 
or palace. It is of noble blood; see the babe of the 
poor, and though it may look healthier than its 
richer rival, what is there in store for it? Its future 
so uncertain, poverty at the door of the hut, parents 
not able to provide for it. 

Well, friends, here are two babes, very nice, and 
as the world calls them, sweet. One has been bap¬ 
tized, the other not, perhaps through ignorance, or, 
God forbid, through slothful neglect. The chris¬ 
tened babe has received the new life in God through 
Christ our Lord. It has at its disposal the full in¬ 
heritance of Christ even in this world, all His mer¬ 
its, all the graces which He has left us, and there 
is beyond this life the eternal life in heaven. 


221 




That divine life thus infused into the child must 
be kept intact and alive by the care of father and 
mother. They are responsible for that soul. 

As in the natural order, we may become very 
careless, even reckless about the health of our bodies, 
and thus bring about sickness and death, so in the 
supernatural, by being careless and slothful we can 
bring about sickness and death for the soul by los¬ 
ing the life in God which Christ has given us. 

Look at the means, so strong and powerful, which 
our Lord hns left at our disposal, not only to keep 
that supernatural life, but to strengthen it and in¬ 
crease it, making it so full of true manliness and 
vigor that it is proof against all the attacks of sin 
and Satan and hell combined. 

Friends, rather give up the life of the body than 
that of the soul; so did the martyrs; so said Chris¬ 
tian mothers to their children, “Rather see you die 
than to see you lose the grace of God, which is the 
life in God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 


222 




^ebentf) ^unbap Sifter Pentecost 


Letter of St. Paul to the Romans: “For the end 
of them is death, for the wages of sin is death .’ 7 

If we will look at all the miseries and misfor^ 
tunes and evils and trials and crosses which affect- 
poor human nature in this miserable world, in the 
light of the sufferings and death of our Lord, as 
we did before, we shall find that all these, through 
Christ, have become a source of merit, of heavenly 
reward. 

We shall necessarily come to the conclusion that 
in reality there is but one evil in this world—it is 
that evil which takes us away from God, who alone 
can make us happy, and which fills our souls with 
remorse and sadness, and brings us nothing but 
unhappiness here in this world and in the next. 
That evil is sin. Well does St. Paul say: “The 
wages of sin is death.” Yes, death for the soul and 
suffering and death for the body, wreck and ruin 
for man. 


223 






Do you know the history of sin? Look at crea¬ 
tion! It is a beautiful chain, beginning with sim¬ 
ple links, each successive one growing more devel¬ 
oped—seemingly stronger, all in gradation until 
from a simple atom, a particle so small that the 
senses cannot reach it even with our keenest instru¬ 
ments. We come to man, the highest being in this 
world, having in his nature all the powers of the 
material world. In our nature we combine the 
spiritual and the material, the link between matter 
and spirit. Between us and God there is another 
link, the order of pure spirits, that is, spirits who 
have no bodies, not encumbered by flesh and blood. 

Now the law of God knows no exception. He 
will never bestow infinite happiness on any crea¬ 
ture which has the free use of intellect and will 
unless that free being recognizes, not only in the¬ 
ory or in speculation, but in practice, the supremacy 
of God—that is, that He is absolute master over all 
things as Creator, that is, he is God. 

The greatest minds in the Church, her eminent 
theologians, teach us that God created the order of 
pure spirits before He made man. These spirits, 
so bright and strong, had to follow the same law 
that we have; they had to acknowledge and in prac- 

224 




tice recognize that God was their creator; that they 
depended entirely upon Him, and that without 
Him they could do nothing. Well leaning upon 
their self-sufficiency, being conscious of their deep, 
penetrating intellect and strong will power, they 
thought they could do for themselves, they needed 
not the Almighty, and would not recognize Him 
as their Creator, Lord and Master; and God smote 
them in their pride, and Lucifer and his followers 
fell from grace and were punished by the Almighty. 
The wages of their sin was eternal death; that is, 
separation from God forever. 

God made our first parents the most beautiful 
man and grandest woman that ever walked the 
earth, except Jesus and His mother. Their minds 
and hearts were clean and pure. They spoke with 
God. They were never to toil, the earth would 
give its fruits of every description, untouched, un¬ 
tilled, no excessive heat or cold, no sickness, no 
death, constant happiness—the earth a real para¬ 
dise. Blessed children of a most kind and loving 
Father, God. 

Sin came, through the temptation of the evil 
one. He fell, he was jealous of man and his fu¬ 
ture. He could not reach God to get revenge, so 
225 




he would wreck God’s image. Eat of the forbidden 
fruit; have you no mind of your own and will of 
your own? They fell, and by that sin they drew 
down upon themselves and us every misfortune 
that has befallen poor human nature from the mo¬ 
ment they rebelled against God until now. So 
blame not God, but blame sin, for every affliction 
that has befallen you and will come, until death, 
the wages of sin, shall give the last fatal blow. 

The effects of sin are terrible. As the Apostle 
says, “The wages of sin is death.” What is death? 
Death in man, is the separation of the soul from the 
body, making it lifeless; unfit to be kept amongst 
the living, incapable of any action whatsoever; the 
principle of life, the soul, has been taken away; 
chemical action swiftly destroys the dead organism. 

What is sin? The death of the soul as regards 
the supernatural life. God has withdrawn from 
that soul, and in God and for God that soul is 
more deeply in spiritual death than the corpse in 
natural death. That soul has lost all power to do 
the very smallest meritorious act; by the with¬ 
drawal of God from that soul it is spiritually life¬ 
less, dead, and the effect of this state is, to be re¬ 
jected by Almighty God, more so than we reject the 
corpse. And holy men dared say that it requires 
226 




more of God’s power to restore a sinner to the 
divine life than it would require to restore the 
corpse to life. 

Sin darkens the mind, for the grace of God 
consists in light for the mind and strength for the 
will. When God withdraws from the soul, that 
light is gone. Only the remembrance remains, and 
so is the strength which was given to the will. We 
feel that now we are weak. 

Mortal sin is the death of the soul, but there is 
sickness for the soul as well as for the body. 1 
refer to venial sin, that is, sins which do not drive 
God out of our hearts, but offend and displease 
Him, gradually diminishing the life of the soul, 
making it more and more weak, and finally it falls 
from grace and mortal sin enters, the fatal blow 
to the life of our souls. 

In the words of the Apostle, let us not serve un¬ 
cleanness and iniquity, but yield our members to 
serve justice unto sanctification, for the end of 
them is death. But being made free from sin and 
having become servants of God, you have your fruit 
unto sanctification and the end life everlasting. Let 
the grace of God therefore unto life everlasting 
dwell in you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

227 




^unbap 3Mter Pentecotft 


We read from the letter of St. Paul to the 
Romans: “Whosoever are led by the spirit of God, 
they are the sons of God.” 

Dear friends, shall we to-day look into our lives, 
and see whether we are the sons of God our Father 
—that is, are we led by the spirit of God? 

There is in every home a family spirit; it is 
impressed upon the child by the sayings and doings 
of father and mother, and it takes so strong a hold 
of us in childhood that as we grow into manhood 
we, by imitating our parents, acquire habits of 
talking and of acting which we often keep through 
life. 

Should these habits he good, it is certainly a 
blessing, but, good or evil, they have taken deep 
root in our natures, and it is so natural for us to 
act and speak from early training, that we talk 
and act as our father and mother did, so that we 
often say, well, he or she got that from their father 
228 







or their mother; that boy takes after his father; 
that girl takes after her mother. 

It is often a surprise for people when the chil¬ 
dren are not like their parents; we cannot help no¬ 
ticing it; we remark it; well, how different they 
are from their father and mother, you would 
never think, from seeing them or hearing them 
talk that they are the children of such parents. 

There cannot possibly be any other reason for 
this except that the children have never grown into 
the family spirit and through company, good or 
bad, are strangers to that spirit. 

In many cases, where the parents lead bad lives, 
it is certainly a blessing for the children not to 
follow their parents, but to be influenced by good 
company. If, on the contrary, the father, and 
especially the mother, for she has more care of the 
child than her husband, are good and exemplary 
Christians, how good and Christian is the family 
spirit of that home, how deeply do the words and 
the example of the parents take root in the heart of 
the children, never to be forgotten. How often do 
we hear good children say: “My mother forbids 
229 




it,” “My mother tells me to do it,” “I was not 
taught that way.” 

Now, dear friends, the Church is the home 
of Jesus Christ, and amongst the good members 
there exists a family spirit which is the spirit of 
Jesus Christ. It is impressed upon the mind and 
heart of the true Christian by the sanctifying work 
of the Holy Ghost. I may correctly call it “Cath¬ 
olic sense” or seemingly instinct, acquired by prac¬ 
ticing our religion well, understanding correctly 
its doctrine and practices as well of obligation as of 
piety. 

It manifests itself in keeping the mind from 
error. We not only know what the Church teaches, 
but by the gift of understanding and of piety, our 
minds judge so correctly, not only defined doctrine, 
but also about the practices that flow from them. 
By these gifts we look upon God as a dearly loving 
Father, and the great idea of our lives is to please 
Him and never to offend. We do resemble Him in 
Jesus Christ, and thus we are the sons of God. 

This beautiful home spirit is not so much derived 
from long and deep study, though these may make 
the Catholic spirit more intense, but this Catholic 


230 




instinct grows in us and becomes perfect by co¬ 
operating with the grace of God. 

Take a Catholic child well instructed in its cate¬ 
chism, leading a pure life. Let it drink in well 
what the Church teaches and what she practices, 
and you won’t have to tell that child to go to con¬ 
fession. Let it make its first communion, and it 
will long to go again. By the use of prayer, by 
going to services, by the use of the sacraments, its 
soul is led by the Holy Spirit, and it will give 
better answers on the so-called mysteries of our 
faith than the greatest theologian. 

Through that Catholic instinct it will naturally 
feel if there is any question of doctrine, which 
seems doubtful, it may not be able to give the rea¬ 
son, but as that doubtful doctrine is not congenial 
to its Catholic mind it will tell you that, it does not 
know exactly why it is, but feels that such doctrine 
is not right, even though some great priest or 
bishop might advance it. 

Convinced absolutely that the Church is infalli¬ 
ble, no matter what the world and error and hell 
combined may attempt, or preach or do, the child 
is safe, it will cling to the Church, independently 

231 




of all that may happen of heresy or schism. It is 
the child of God. 

Instinctively it feels that as St. Paul says, there 
is a time to rejoice and a time to weep; during the 
seasons of Advent and Lent, it acts with the im¬ 
pression that when the Church does penance, it 
should abstain from all, even lawful, amusements. 

It is responsive to the feelings of Mother Church. 
Whenever there are services it will look upon them 
as an invitation to come close to our Lord. 

Novelties, strange and unheard of things, such 
as extraordinary or new devotions, make no im¬ 
pression upon it. Curiosity does not lead it, for our 
Lord has said: When they tell you, Christ is here 
or there, do not believe it. That child by its keen 
perception of true devotion and worship will be 
slow to go to novelties, until it has received the 
sanction of a prudent and wise director and felt in 
its heart that what seems new is only the appear¬ 
ance and that it is in conformity with the guidance 
of the Church. 

As for communion, why it would simply be 
shocked if it would be satisfied with going only once 
a year. Its Catholic instinct and feeling bring it 

232 




at the foot of the altar whenever the church bell 
calls. It has the greatest respect for the anointed 
of God and whatever is sacred. It respects and 
honors the saints with the greatest admiration, but 
its whole nature, so full of that Catholic instinct, 
goes naturally to Jesus Christ and his blessed 
mother. These two are the object of its devotion first 
and foremost. 

My dear friends, would to God that all of you 
without exception were filled with that beautiful 
spirit. How safe you would be in your faith, how 
humble, how docile. The words of Christ would be 
verified in you: “Unless you become like little 
children you shall not enter the kingdom of 
heaven.” Ye®, you will be the children, the sons of 
God in Jesus Christ. 


233 




^unbap Sifter Pentecost 


“Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, 
let him take heed, lest he fall.” I take these words 
from the beautiful letter which St. Paul wrote to 
the Corinthians, which letter I have just read to 
you. 

One of the most astonishing facts, which is, in¬ 
deed, undeniable, is the great weakness of the hu¬ 
man will. And how could it be otherwise? Born in 
original sin, with the sad effects of that fall in us, 
passionate by nature, the flesh rebelling against the 
spirit, surrounded by so many snares and tempta¬ 
tions, poor human nature, were it not for the super¬ 
abundance of God’s means which he places at our 
disposal (and which are a direct proof that we are 
weak), we certainly would fall and be lost forever. 

When you look back upon your past life, are you 
not astonished how you fell, and how frequently 
you gave way to sin, and how grievously you of¬ 
fended God? When you go to confession and try 

234 





to make your act of contrition, do you feel ashamed 
of yourself and tell Almighty God that you never 
intended to go that far, that really you do not see 
why and how you commit sins so grievous and 
manifold. 

Why did all this happen? Dear friends, the 
Apostle tells us the cause in his letter which we 
read to-day—take heed lest you fall. We do not 
take heed; we become careless, and gradually and 
surely we fall by degrees lower and lower until we 
end in mortal sin. 

No Christian is safe unless he keeps his mind 
always in the disposition that under no circum¬ 
stances and for no one, whether upon earth or in 
heaven, he will ever wilfully do, say or even think 
anything which is wrong, no matter how slight it 
may be. With the true Christian it is not a question 
of slight or grievous—the uprightness of his dis¬ 
position is, never to displease or offend God in 
any way. 

So noble a disposition keeps the heart turned to 
God and the will becomes gradually confirmed by 
force of habit and naturally rests with God. Peace 
on earth to men of good will. 

235 




When the will is upright sin becomes, morally 
speaking, impossible, for as the consent of the will 
is required for sin, and the habit of the will is to 
will good, and that only, such disposition is the 
most secure, counteracting and overcoming the 
great weakness of our poor natures. 

Our arch enemy, Satan, goes around like a 
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is 
always busy about us, how to ruin us and lead us 
astray by gradually robbing us of the grace of God. 
He cares not how long it takes him, provided he 
succeeds in his evil design. 

The devil, after carefully studying us and our 
weakness and our special inclination to evil, so- 
called our predominant passion, plans our ruin, 
yes, the ruin of every one, Pope, cardinal, bishop, 
priest and layman, and dear friends, unless we take 
heed as the Apostle warns us, he will accomplish 
our ruin. 

How cunningly and ingeniously he goes about 
that evil plan. He, with his experience of thousands 
of years, having filled hell with immortal souls, 
persons who had the same dispositions and in¬ 
clinations as we have, knows well that no one ever 


236 




becomes bad and wicked all at once, and therefore 
he tempts slowly and gradually, increasing his al¬ 
lurements and deceptions every time, gradually 
taking away from us the grace of God and causing 
us to fall into grievous sin, and then by discourage¬ 
ment and almost despair, keeps us away from God, 
perhaps for a long time, for years, and it may be 
for all eternity. 

Is this not the way in which you fell into sin? 
Oh, how slight the beginning. The devil suggested: 
Well, you need not be scrupulous or so particular; 
why, you are not a saint; you need not be running 
to church day and night; what is the use of frequent 
confession and communion? Does not the Church 
teach that once a year is sufficient. Well, I cannot 
be watching all the time. I can’t always find time 
to pray. Well, I know I am not a saint, but still 
I do not murder or steal. I try to be good, and all 
such nice sounding excuses, covered snares by which 
the devil destroys the exactness of a good and cor¬ 
rect conscience, robs us each and every time of the 
strong grace of God by diminishing it in our souls, 
by making us careless, by leading us into mortal 
sin, and thus to wreck and ruin. 

No one ever lost the faith but it began with a 


237 




little. Oh, we imagined we were Catholics, strong 
in our own faith, and we heard a lecture by an 
infidel, we read a book which was not very good, out 
of condescension, for we did not wish to appear nar¬ 
rowminded. We went to other churches; why? on 
account of friendship. We had to see and hear a 
great many things we did not like about faith and 
religion. And all this weakened and finally dead¬ 
ened our faith. 

Did you become a drunkard? Did it not begin 
with one glass. You felt a craving for drink grow¬ 
ing within you; you must have some satisfaction. It 
brought you a nice feeling. It took away gloom and 
oppression, and the appetite, uncontrolled, led you 
to be under the influence of drink and finally 
brought on drunkenness. 

Did you lose virtue? Are you a wreck of self- 
indulgence in ugly habits, or have you plunged into 
sins and vices that have brought shame and dis¬ 
grace not only on yourself but on others? If so, 
did it not begin by books and reading and conduct 
that were not pure? Passion was stirred; your 
blood boiled within you, and you fell. 

And what I have said of these sins I say of every 

238 



sin. Anger, spite lead to hatred and murder; un¬ 
controlled desire for wealth leads to theft and in¬ 
justice and hardness of heart. Our predominant 
passion is the handle the devil uses against us to 
bring about our ruin. 

How clear, then, it should be to us to be on our 
guard; for many and powerful and experienced are 
our enemies, the devil, the world and our passions— 
how strongly must I repeat to you the words of the 
Apostle: “Wherefore he that thinketh himself to 
stand, let him take heed, lest he fall.” 

Do we live up to this advice, or do we live from 
day to day carried away by the strong current of 
thoughtlessness, of want of a thorough examination 
of our consciences, and not taking heed but falling 
frequently into faults and sin, and bring about evil 
habits which will ensnare us and ruin us for life 
and eternity? 


239 




Cent!) ^uttirap Sifter Pentecost 


To-day’s reading is from the letter which St. 
Paul wrote to the Corinthians. He says: There are 
diversities of operations, but the same God who 
worketh in all. 

The great secret by which we can make the best 
of life and be happy in the state of life in which we 
are, is to realize what St. Paul says, that there are 
diverse gifts, diverse operations, but the same God 
who worketh in all. 

We find in the world restless people who never 
accomplish anything, and yet go from one thing to 
another, never satisfied, imagining that they can 
better their condition by changing from one profes¬ 
sion or trade or occupation to another, and never 
trying to perfect themselves in one thing. The old 
saying is very true: “A rolling stone gathers no 
moss.” 

This holds true, and very true, in our lives. See- 
240 





ing other people and imagining they are in better 
circumstances or seem to be happy or in a higher 
position than we are, we begin to grumble and we 
aspire to be as they are, whether we are fit for their 
position or not. 

The providence of God has it so arranged that in 
this world we depend on one another and therefore 
there must be people in all the different stations of 
life, from the highest to the lowest, for without this 
society could not stand. Circumstances of birth and 
early training, special talents and natural gifts, fine 
opportunities and above all prudence in selecting 
for ourselves that state or occupation for which our 
talents and education, guided by our faith, fit us 
best, should determine what state of life or occupa¬ 
tion we should embrace. 

It is certain that God, who never can do anything 
useless, wants us to do our part in this vast world 
in some way or other, and become a stone, large or 
small, conspicuous or hidden, yet useful, if not ab¬ 
solutely necessary in the great moral building of 
the universe. We do not belong to ourselves abso¬ 
lutely but relatively, and therefore must do our 
duty in that state of life in which we have been 
placed. 


241 




If we are in a state of life which we cannot 
change, we should try to perfect ourselves in that 
state, even if we have made a mistake in embrac¬ 
ing it, for God will always give us sufficient grace 
to lead a good life and to secure our salvation. 

It is for these reasons that we should be careful 
in the choice of a state of life and even in the 
choice of occupation or trade or profession. And 
this especially is the duty of parents and the spir¬ 
itual father, the pastor, prudently to guide and ad¬ 
vise their children so as to secure for them those 
pursuits and station of life which is best suited to 
them. 

God, in giving us gifts and talents, either through 
nature or culture, for every good gift comes from 
above, generally shows us for what , we are best 
suited, and if we will study the natural disposition 
and the talents of the mind and the natural but 
correct wishes or inclinations of the heart, with 
prayer, it will be comparatively easy to determine 
what course we should pursue in life. 

We should not allow passion and worldliness to 
influence us. How many persons only look to this 
world in choosing a position or occupation in life. 

242 




Money is the ruling idea. How much is there in 
it? Salary predominates, whether the man or 
woman is fit for the position or not, whether there 
might be danger for faith or morals, whether they 
will be able to attend to the Church or not—the 
main idea is, how much is there in it? And this 
especially holds true with parents and their chil¬ 
dren in the choice of a partner for life. I mean 
marriage. Is he rich? Has he a fine position? Is 
he a prominent man? Perhaps he has even titles; 
claims to nobility. But whether he is a good, prac¬ 
tical Catholic, devout, his morality above reproach— 
that goes for nothing. 

Parents are bound to see what their children are 
best suited for and develop the natural talents or 
gifts which God has bestowed upon them, so as to 
prepare them to enter upon life in a practical, but 
above all, in a Christian manner. 

And children should pray to God to enlighten 
them so as to know God’s will and advise with 
their parents and with their pastors, whom the 
Church of God has placed over them, in the choice 
of a state of life. Be not afraid to open your hearts 
to your best and truest friends in this world—your 
temporal and spiritual superiors. 

243 



The principal reason which should determine us 
in the choice of a state of life, and even in business 
pursuits, should be to serve God more devotedly, to 
further or at least to secure our spiritual welfare, 
and above all our eternal salvation. 

And friends, I must make special reference to the 
religious and to the state of Priesthood. Certainly 
in this world there is nothing so exalted as the 
priesthood or the holy call to the religious life. 

And if we have a genuine call or vocation to it, 
thank God, and you will surely be happy and fill 
the sublime calling of Christ. Here especially lies 
my duty towards you, towards the country and to¬ 
wards the Church of God. If you find in your 
children the requisite talents and the true spirit for 
that exalted state, under no circumstances force a 
vocation. Do not tell your son that you w T ant him 
to be a priest. Never urge, but pray to God, and 
encourage that beloved boy by telling him that if 
God calls, if God in his mercy and love should 
call him to the altar, you will be very happy and 
thank God for it. Never let motives of vanity or 
pride or consideration of money place your son at 
the altar, for if the Church has to weep bitterly 
over the fall of her children, it is over fallen priests 

244 




who had no vocation and who for worldly motives, 
or the forcing of their parents, were ordained 
priests. 

Brethren, let us strive to know the will of God. 
Let us act calmly and fill our judgments with 
prayer, and embrace that state of life which we 
conscientiously believe to be in accordance with 
the holy will of God, and then make every effort 
to perfect ourselves in it, to make life real and 
beneficial, for the honor and glory of God and the 
welfare of our neighbor. 


245 




Clebentf) ^unbap after Pentecost 


St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “But by the 
grace of God I am what I am.” 

How instructive are these words of the great 
Apostle. How true, how humble and glorifying 
God, and very applicable to ourselves. 

You know that St. Paul was a very brilliant 
man. God had gifted him with a very strong char¬ 
acter. He was a born orator, and by study and edu¬ 
cation he had become a leader amongst the people, 
so that they respected him and feared him. Be¬ 
lieving that Christians were bad and were enemies 
dangerous to the state, he got power from the gov¬ 
ernor to arrest them and punish them by exile and 
torture. 

Receiving the grace of conversion through Christ 
speaking to him in a vision, he immediately did 
penance, received instructions from the Apostles, 
and became the chosen one of God, a vessel of 
election, to go, not to persecute, hut to preach the 

246 







Gospel of Jesus to the gentiles. How St. Paul ap¬ 
preciated that sublime grace of God, by which 
from a sinner he became an Apostle! How well 
does he acknowledge all this when he says, “Our 
sufficiency is from, God. By the grace of God I am 
what I am.” He means, an Apostle. 

By the words which I have just quoted, St. Paul 
recognizes the fact that he has, both in the natural 
and supernatural order, gifts of God, and by corre¬ 
sponding with the grace of God he is what he is, a 
man full of talent and power, enriched by the 
grace of God, working and toiling for his master 
with all the ardor of his strong nature. 

All his great sermons and wonderful works, even 
the sufferings which he underwent for Christ, never 
made him vain, oh, never. All he gloried in, all he 
preached was Christ and Him crucified. 

God has given to every one of us natural gifts, 
and through the kindness of our Lord, the Re¬ 
deemer, has given us supernatural gifts. All these 
blessings and gifts we should appreciate, and never 
be vain or self conceited. Let us learn, as the 
Apostle says of himself, that what we are—that is, 
if we are anything—we are by the grace of God, 

247 




As far as our physical existence in this vast mate- 
trial world is concerned, we are very insignificant. 
We are the outgrowth of the laws of generation, a 
drop compared to the vast ocean of human beings, so 
helpless. To continue in life we need the constant 
care and attention of our parents. We are the most 
helpless of the animal kingdom. 

If we have any natural gifts or talents, are they 
not the traits w T hich we inherit from] our parents? 
If we receive education and training, do we not 
otwe this to others? And if, after we are no longer 
taught by others, we culture ourselves, as we should 
do, is it not by the permission and help of God, 
who gives us the power to do this? 

How few people are there who recognize the fact 
that even in the natural order everything so called 
good in us is from God? 

But above all, no matter how brilliant and tal¬ 
ented we may be by gifts or culture, if we are left 
to ourselves, we will abuse these natural gifts, and 
by that abuse bring ruin on ourselves. 

Take the most enlightened and learned men of 
the past and of our day, and what were they, what 
are they to-day? Fine specimens of the animal 

248 



kingdom, made very smart by their quick minds 
and strong wills, but all for this world, to gain re¬ 
nown, to gather money, to enjoy pleasure, and 
thus to squander all these gifts of nature developed 
by the study and culture of mere materialism. 

Man in his fallen nature cannot look beyond 
matter, and the learned are no exception to this 
rule. Renowned astronomers remaining within the 
realms of the sky, do not see the cause of the heav¬ 
enly mechanism, the learned who try to explain life 
confined to cells and embryo, are ignorant of the 
immortal soul that indwells the physical. And so 
it is with all those who confine their researches to 
mere matter, and, alas, cannot look beyond, be¬ 
cause they have no knowledge of the supernatural, 
either because God’s grace has not entered their 
souls, or because they rejected it through passion 
or pride. 

All these beautiful gifts of nature are dangerous 
if we have not the grace of God which makes us 
see clearly that God has given us these things, that 
we must use them for our eternal and temporal 
welfare. 

Is it not far better for a young man to remain 


249 




poor and to labor for his support than to inherit a 
large fortune which he squanders to his own 
downfall. 

How kind is God in distributing his gifts. Never 
let us envy any one, and wonder why God did not 
give us the talents and qualities of others who are 
above us, riches and wealth as those around us. 
How we deceive ourselves when we imagine that if 
we were talented and gifted and had riches we 
would be so good and do so much good. We do not 
know ourselves. How many said so, and thought 
so, and no sooner did they acquire wealth or posi¬ 
tion, alas, they neglected God, they looked down 
upon the poor, they abused the gifts of God. There 
are very few who can look down from a tower or 
high building without growing dizzy. 

When gifted we are very apt to grow proud. God 
will not give us His grace for He resisteth the 
proud. If God has been very liberal to us in his 
natural gifts, the more we need his grace, and if 
we secure these natural gifts and crown them by 
corresponding to God’s grace, then we are safe. 
Then nature and grace are harmonized within us, 
and then we can and must say, “By the grace of 
God I am what I am.” 


250 




CtocKtf) J>unbap ^fitter Pentecost. 


St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians says: “Such 
confidence we have through Christ towards God.” 

If we only consider the infinite majesty of God, 
His divine attributes, His holiness, His power, we 
would be so overawed that we would not dare go 
near Him, and we would naturally think that He 
is so far above us, that he does not care for us. 

Yet how great is this misunderstanding about 
God, how disastrous this would be to us. We can 
do nothing without God. Although He created us, 
He cannot leave us to ourselves. He must keep us. 
We never can be without Him for we would cease 
to exist. 

But when we know this and then when we re¬ 
member that God gave us His only begotten Son, 
Jesus, to come here on earth and live with us, be¬ 
coming one of us, and Jesus reassuring us, telling us 
of his Father and uniting us to the divine nature, 


251 





then we feel we are near to God, assumed to God 
through Christ, and have our confidence in God. 

God, through Christ, our oldest brother, in our 
adoption to God, is our loving Father. He wants 
us near to Him here upon earth and with Him 
forever in heaven. We should act towards God as 
children who know their father well, and have all 
the confidence in Him through Christ. 

Dear friends, is it not a source of deep and great 
consolation to us to know that we have a Father so 
dear and so loving, to whom we can go, reassured by 
His own divine Son that what we ask we shall re¬ 
ceive through Jesus Christ? 

Dear friends, it is through and by prayer, by . 
speaking to God from the heart through the assur¬ 
ance of Christ, that we are all powerful with God. 
Oh, do chisel into your souls the words of the 
Apostle—Such confidence we have through Christ 
towards God. 

Do we ever pray? Do not be astonished or 
surprised when I ask you that question. I know you 
utter forms of prayers; words, which, if understood, 
and spoken from the heart and realized by the 
mind, may be prayers, but do we not justly incur 

252 




the reproach of our Lord: “These people honor me 
with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” 

Prayer is the key of heaven; prayer is the key to 
the heart of God which unlocks for us all the treas¬ 
ures of God’s wealth. Pray well and you will live 
well. Commune with God and you will obtain 
what you desire, and your prayer will bring you 
nearer and nearer unto God. 

How few people understand prayer. They betray 
their ignorance when they tell us that they cannot 
pray, that they get distracted whenever they try to 
pray, that they never get anything they prayed for. 

Prayer is quite natural to us—as natural as it is 
for a poor or needy person to go and ask a very 
rich neighbor, a friend, for help and assistance. 
God is all powerful. He has shown that he is our 
real friend, and we need everything. What could 
there be more natural for us than to apply to God, 
our loving Father, in all our necessities. 

But friends, remember we must speak to Him 
with faith. Oh, that sublime, lively, strong faith. 
Where is God when you pray? A million miles 
away, beyond the starry dome of the heavens, seated 
somewhere upon a lofty throne surrounded by mil- 
253 




lions of angels and saints? What does he oare for 
us? When will our prayers reach Him? What is 
the use ? Oh, ye of little faith! Have you forgotten 
that in Him we live, w T e move, we have our being? 
You need not raise your eyes to the ceiling, nor 
even to a picture of Christ as babe, as teacher, or 
hanging on the cross. God is right with you. You 
are more in Him than a sponge submerged in the 
ocean. Do you realize that divine presence? If so, 
would you be distracted? Can you not talk to a rela¬ 
tive or neighbor, and weep and pour out the afflic¬ 
tion or oppression of your bruised heart, and you 
never got distracted ? Well, I see the person right 
before me, and were you to see God by lively faith 
right before you, you would not be distracted, but 
pour out the distress and sorrow of your broken 
heart to your Heavenly Father who is right with 
you. 

And here I must repeat the words of the Apostle, 
Oh, such confidence we have towards God. A child 
that has confidence in its father goes to him and 
asks, and knowing that the father loves it, is sure 
that father will grant its request. Dear friends, how 
do we go'to God when we speak to Him in prayer? 
Besides that strong, lively faith have we confidence 

254 





in God, sure, positively sure, that God will grant 
what we ask, provided we have confidence in Him? 
Is it not true, perhaps, that we have more con¬ 
fidence in the promises of some friend or neighbor 
than in the promise of our Lord? Whatsoever you 
shall ask the Father in my name shall be given 
unto you. Do we really pray with perfect assurance 
that on account of the promise of our Lord the 
Father will give us what we ask. 

Be careful to understand that promise of our 
Lord as he gave it. Whatsoever you will ask the 
Father in my name. Yes, in the name of Jesus, the 
Son of the Father, whose will is the will of the 
Father, and therefore when we ask in the name 
of Jesus, it means the will of God to de¬ 
cide whether the Father will grant the request as 
prayed for, or hear the prayer, which He always 
does and cannot refuse, and grant something even 
better than the favor you asked for. 

We do not know what is best for us, and God, 
therefore, seeing that what we ask for is not good 
for us, He hears, and grants us what is best for us. 
Small children, not knowing what is good for them, 
often ask for things which strike the senses—a 
glittering, sharp knife, perhaps even poison, which 

255 




may look attractive. Does the loving mother grant 
the request of the child? It would be cruelty. Oh, 
leave to God the result of your prayer, full of faith 
and perfect confidence, and you will never pray 
but the promise of our Lord shall be fufilled. Ask 
and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, 
knock and it shall be opened unto you. 


250 




'Cfnrteentb ^unbap after Pentecost 


The Apostle in to-day’s letter tells the Galatians 
that Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that 
the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be 
given to them that believe. 

Our Mother, the Church, teaches us that God 
made man according to His own image and likeness, 
and that in our first parents that likeness and re¬ 
semblance to God was so striking that it made their 
soul so clear in intellect and their will so inclined to 
good that God could not help love them, for they 
were spotless and beautiful as God made them. 

I will not attempt to describe that beauty both of 
soul and body which God gave them as to His dear 
children, but by their actual sin, their open dis¬ 
obedience to God, they and we, their children, lost 
all those beautiful gifts of God and therefore it be¬ 
comes almost impossible to explain how God, who 
created man for perfect happiness in this world and 
in the next, had endowed them with natural and 


257 




supernatural' gifts, even with immortality. We can 
think about this and let our imagination wonder, 
but we cannot do justice to it. 

Upon them, however, fell the punishment. All 
the free gifts of God, their immortality' the perfect 
subordination of the body to the soul and the nat¬ 
ural control over the senses, were taken away. Even 
the earth was cursed and on account of their willful 
act of disobedience they were condemned to labor, 
above all losing all right of inheritance to the eter¬ 
nal rewards of heaven which God would have 
given to them and to us as a reward for their 
fidelity. All hope was gone. Man was left with the 
flesh battling against the spirit, with darkness of 
mind and a rebellious nature, to live here in this 
world and then to be lost forever. 

As St. Paul says, the Scripture hath concluded all 
under sin. 

In Paradise, God taking pity on man, promised a 
redeemer, but God waited till the days of Abraham. 
You know how at the command of God this great 
patriarch was willing and got ready to sacrifice the 
son he loved so well, Isaac, overcoming all his nat¬ 
ural feelings. That act of readiness and submis- 

258 




sion was so different from, and contrary to, the re¬ 
bellion of our first parents, and pleased God so much, 
that he promised Abraham, in his descendants, not 
to any but to one, Abraham, as the Apostle says, 
that the redeemer would come, not by a law, for 
then justice should have been by law—God would 
have owed to us, as the Apostle teaches—but by 
promise to Abraham, called therefore the Father 
of the Faithful. 

Now, brethren, what does all this mean to us? It 
teaches us that we are born into this w T orld as chil¬ 
dren of fallen parents, with the effects of their actual 
sin, in ether words, in original sin. We did not 
commit it, we are not guilty of it, but through their 
sin we are deprived of all those great gifts and pre¬ 
rogatives which He had freely bestowed on them, 
which he did not owe to them by law or justice, and 
therefore he had the right to take them away, and 
so he did, and through the effects of that first actual 
sin, we have no right to heaven. Blame our first 
parents, but not God. 

Because instead of letting us go to eternal perdi¬ 
tion, he immediately in Paradise to our fallen pa¬ 
rents He promises to redeem, and when Abraham, 
a man full of faith in God, shows his willingness 

259 




to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, like God the Father, 
was ready to sacrifice his only begotten, God seals 
that promise within the direct line of his 
descendants. 

Now, friends, you understand well then the doc¬ 
trine of original sin, and you should clearly under¬ 
stand it. Never did our first parents, nor we, have 
any right to all those wonderful gifts of God. He 
owed man nothing. They were all free gifts, and 
if our first parents had been faithful, God would 
have crowned all these gifts by letting us inherit 
them from Adam and Eve, perfect happiness, no 
work, no suffering, no sickness, no death—see God’s 
goodness and love. 

When God took away all those free gifts, he did 
not leave us to our fate. The redeemer is promised 
in whom we can be reborn, that is, become the chil¬ 
dren of God by adoption through Jesus Christ, and 
regain all we lost through the fall of our first 
parents. You see very well this greatest of all bless¬ 
ings was not due to us, but came to us through and 
by the promise of God which he fulfilled in His Son, 
Jesus Christ. 

There is the inestimable new birth, spiritual birth, 
which we receive in baptism, the grace which God 
260 




owes to no one, which is freely given, and do you see 
how wrong and unchristian and sinful it is to keep 
children from being baptized through carelessness, 
neglect or foolish worldly motives? 

And how we should treasure that grace which 
sealed us with the seal of God, stamped on our 
souls the image of God, which was, so to speak, 
effaced from our nature, through God not being 
willing to recognize us as His children unless re¬ 
born of water and the Holy Ghost. 

How careful we should be not to destroy again 
that grace in our souls by sin, how we should guard 
and keep it, and how particular parents should be 
about the souls of their children. Oh, dear friends, 
I hope that not one of my parishioners will be so 
terribly neglectful in their duty as to allow a child 
to die without baptism. They have not sinned, but 
they are born deprived of all the gifts of God be¬ 
stowed upon our first parents. They are not at fault, 
but you are, if you neglect to have them reborn in 
Jesus Christ, when you can easily bring them to be 
baptized. All are included under sin, but thank 
God, through the promise of God and its fulfillment 
in Jesus Christ, we are no more included under sin 
through the great and most necessary of all sacra¬ 
ment—Baptism. 


261 




Jfourteentf) g>mbav Bfter Pentecotft 


“And they that are Christ’s have crucified their 
flesh with the vices and concupiscences.” 

It is a remarkable fact that men are so occupied 
in training animals. Why, we have dog trainers 
horse tamers and trainers, wild beast trainers, and 
fancy trainers that will teach animals—dogs, cats, 
even pigs—to perform certain maneuvers or tricks, 
simply for show or exhibition. 

Then how we spend whole lives in cultivating 
the soil in order to get good crops; how we want to 
correct nature’s wildness according to our fancy, 
and we level mountains and fill hollows; how we 
lay out fine parks or pleasure grounds. We are cut¬ 
ting building material to suit our ideas to help build 
our homes. We are ever engaged in removing bushes 
or trees and planting new ones, to cultivate them. 
Are we not always engaged in trimming and cut¬ 
ting away the useless or wild, in order to make na- 
262 





ture conform to our ideas or notions of symmetry 
and beauty? 

Certainly it is very good and praiseworthy and 
necessary to do this. Why, if we would leave the 
fields alone and whatever the earth has built up in 
its wildness, we would have only a wilderness not 
fit to live in. Even the animals would not obey us 
or be useful to us. Nature and all that is in it need 
culture, training. 

Now, friends, what about man? Does he not need 
training? If left to self, if not trained, he would be 
wilder than any field, more uncontrolled than any 
bush or tree, or thistle or thorn. Proof of this are 
the savages who are still living. Man needs training 
more than anything else in nature. 

The rest of creation has not the intellect and free 
will which man possesses, and these are the great 
weapons of his untrained and unrestrained 
passionate nature. 

And still the training of man is very often neg¬ 
lected, especially in children, by the parents and by 
those whose duty it is to train them. 

Very often we train them to speak nicely, as the 

203 




world calls it, and we carefully exercise them to 
move along gracefully. To help this mere external 
polish we dress them so nicely and attractively; we 
make them very nice, lovely looking, pet animals. 
But where is the training of the soul? Well, you 
know, that is not seen. We must teach them to be 
nice all around and act so captivatingly that every¬ 
body will like them and admire them. 

God knows that I would like to see every one 
perfect in your exterior, and even cultured, but 
friends, if these accomplishments or training are 
simply on the outside, we may be trained animals— 
excuse me, I am only making a comparison—nicely 
trained monkeys who have learned their tricks well 
and draw the applause of the majority, but there is 
no real refinement or culture. 

Now, man’s nature must be cultivated, not merely 
his skin and outward appearance, but the beauty 
that shines on the outside must come from the in¬ 
terior. The finest and the most beautifying cosmetic 
is not paint or powder, but purity of soul. The 
truest politeness, that is, polish of manners, comes 
from a truthful and warm heart which naturally 
expresses what it feels. 


264 




Passions have been laid low—not deadened, but 
kept under control, perfect control of the will, which 
is led by the intellect enlightened by faith and 
therefore the strong emotional feelings of an ardent, 
passionate nature are so many outlets for acts of 
sublime virtue and heroism. 

Friends, St. Paul says this so correctly in his 
letter: “They that are Christ’s have crucified their 
flesh with the vices and concupiscences.” They are 
true men, real Christians, perfect gentlemen, truly 
polished, and from the self-control which they pos¬ 
sess, holding in check vice and concupiscence, they 
are beautiful with a beauty not merely skin-deep, 
but with beauty of character that makes them 
charming. 

Their souls are the soil from which every thistle 
and thorn and weed and useless growth have been 
uprooted by the grace of God throwing its light upon 
that soil, and by the upright will pulling up all that 
is not of Christ, to plant the supernatural flowers, 
the fruit of the gospel. 

How few people understand this well. It is the 
outward, as I have remarked. Give the outside of 
the house a good coat of paint, make it look nice, 


205 




but care not what is within, even if the house were 
falling to pieces. Oh, folly! 

Do we understand then the Christian life as St. 
Paul tells us or explains it to us? True Christians 
have crucified their flesh, their vices and concu¬ 
piscences. The great enemy, our worst enemy, is not 
dead, but crucified. That means they do not con¬ 
trol or lead us. Oh, no. We have them so perfectly 
under the control of the will that they cannot mas¬ 
ter us. They are crucified to the world so that they 
cannot go and indulge their cravings, and our flesh 
is crucified with them, and through the grace of God 
we become faithful imitators of Christ, the model 
and standard of all true greatness and civilization. 

Understand this. Look now at the worldly man or 
woman; they have not crucified their flesh and 
vices and concupiscences; their natures are full of 
these terrible evils and their lives are full of pas¬ 
sion. How they polish the exterior, the face, the 
hands, their appearance, their dress—a mere bit of 
outward varnish, a whitened sepulchre, as Christ 
calls them, and then look at the Christian with a 
soul controlling all the passions, with a mind well 
stored with Christian knowledge and a heart full of 
Christian charity. Their every look and action is 
true politeness—true Christianity. 

266 






Jftfteentf) ^unbap Hfter Pentecost 


St. Paul writes to the Galatians and says: “There¬ 
fore whilst we have time, let us work good to all 
men, but especially to those who are of the house¬ 
hold of the faith.” 

The advice which St. Paul gives in his letter which 
we read to-day is very important and contains ad¬ 
vice which I am afraid a great many of us overlook, 
and by so doing we are neglectful of our duty, both 
as regards doing good and in the way of doing it. 

Whilst we have time let us do good to all men. 
There is the command of true Christian charity 
which we should be practicing every day of our lives 
—to do some good, and do it to all and for all. If 
we understand this well we will never allow a day 
to pass without saying something kind or consoling 
or doing some act of mercy and charity towards 
some one for the sake of our Lord. 

If we do not accomplish this we are losing time, 
and therefore squandering one of the greatest bless¬ 
ings of life—time and the means of doing good. 

267 





We must, however, remember that our likes and 
dislikes will influence us very much in the doing of 
good to all men unless we are on our guard to pre¬ 
vent our pet feelings to run away with us. 

Have we not all our favorites? We call them 
dear friends; we would not offend them for the 
whole world; we would do everything for them. 
Well this is very good and praiseworthy. Our di¬ 
vine Lord had his favorite Apostle, St. John. 

But, my friends, as St. Paul says, do good unto 
all men, Jew and gentile, heathen, non-Catholics— 
yes all, but kindly take notice of this—but especially 
to those who are of the household of the faith. Do 
we follow that advice? 

In social life, are those whom we call our friends 
and generally form our company. Are they Cath¬ 
olics? I mean the majority of them, or did we or do 
we move in non-Catholic circles of friends for some 
very strange and not solid reasons? The Catholics, 
perhaps, are not so well educated; it is a club but 
composed exclusively of non-Catholics; my standing 
in society brings me with the non-Catholics; the 
Catholics that are here are not fit company for me, 
I am actually forced to be with non-Catholics. These 
are the ones you visit, and you spend hours and 
268 




hours in their company. When they are sick you 
are by their bedside. You do well, but not to all 
men. Fashion and society are the motives that 
prompt you. Those of the household you neglect. 
Do you ever visit with Catholic families, especially 
when they are rather poor and not so fashionable, 
according to the world? When they are sick are you 
by their bedside. You are very punctual at feasts 
and festivals and entertainments; do you not rather 
go to non-Catholic sociables and entertainments than 
to those given by Catholics and for a good, 
charitable purpose? 

Mind well, there is no question here of prejudice 
or bigotry, of ill feeling. God forbid. I want every 
one of you to be as kind and charitable to our non- 
Catholic friends as possible, but remember, true 
charity begins at home, with those of our own 
household. 

Under a mistaken idea of zeal for the conversion 
of these good people, we can build up a big wall of 
excuses and hide behind it and neglect our first 
care, those of our own. 

There are a great many men and women who 
belong to societies and are even officials in them. 
They are for the care of truants and abandoned, or 

269 




bad or degraded children, and they work and labor, 
in the meantime neglecting their own children 
who are running wild and turn out bad. Go and 
first take care of our own. 

Every one of us should be very zealous and de¬ 
sirous about the conversion of the non-Catholics, 
and, indeed, we should not only pray but work for 
their conversion and salvation, as our Lord died for 
them as well as for us who are in the fold. But 
would you not offer more fervent prayers and work 
more diligently for the return of one of your chil¬ 
dren who is wayward than for a great many who are 
not your own? 

There is precisely the true spirit of the Church, 
as expressed by the words of the Apostle. First, our 
own. If we bring back one sinner fallen away from 
the Church we will please God more and do more 
good, than to bring non-Catholics and neglect our 
own. 

There seems to be a feeling that we should run 
after them and make friends and be very liberal 
and coax them to come to Church, and there are 
not a few so-called Catholics who feel honored to 
stand in with them, especially if they happen to be 

270 




wealthy or prominent, and very frequently instead 
of doing good by fawning upon them, and running 
after them, they begin to compromise and minimize 
their faith and many have thus lost it. 

Mind well, be good to them, but first to your Cath¬ 
olic friends and neighbors. If you would lead an 
exemplary Catholic life and show your zeal first 
for your Catholic brethren, and then pray and 
work for the non-Catholics, you would observe the 
advice of the Apostle. 

And even in business, if a Catholic sells goods or 
transacts business as well as our non-Catholics do, 
in price and quality, friends be good to all, but 
especially to those of the faith. 

If your own father, mother, brother or sister kept 
a store and treated you as well as a stranger, would 
you do right to deal with the stranger instead of 
with your own? Could the other storekeepers take 
it amiss or find fault with you for dealing with your 
own in preference to strangers? 

Why, club members, lodge members, society 
members trade with one another because they are 
members. 


271 




Brethren, are we not members of God’s Church, 
related in Jesus Christ, a higher relationship than 
flesh and blood? Do you see your Christian duty 
towards one another? I say, go do this and live—- 
live the life of a Christian. 


272 




(£ixteentf> ^unbap Sifter ftentecosrt 


To-day we read the letter of St. Paul to the 
Ephesians. He tells them that he prays to God that 
the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowl¬ 
edge, may fill their hearts unto all the fullness of 
God. 

My dear people in God, I too pray to Him that 
the same charity may fill your hearts—charity unto 
all the fullness of God. When this sublime gift will 
fill your hearts you will be perfect Christians. 

In the exercise of charity, or rather in perform¬ 
ing charitable actions, there are various motives. 
There is diplomacy—well, if we do them good they 
may do us good in return; we never know when we 
may need them. Again, one good turn deserves an¬ 
other—they have helped us, they are kind to us, we 
owe it to them; we must do it. Another reason— 
they are friends of our friends; if we do not act 
kindly our friends will find out; we are bound to 
do it. 


273 





These motives are good, and if we persevere in a 
good life through these motives, God will no doubt 
save us. But yet we are never entirely safe. The 
things of this world are so enticing and tempting 
that they make us forget the fact of eternal punish¬ 
ment or reward, but give me the charity, the love of 
Christ and let this divine virtue be the motive of 
our thoughts and actions and our hearts will be 
filled with that charity unto the fullness of God. 

Love is ingenuous, love is generous, love is self- 
sacrificing, and with these three qualities it can and 
will accomplish all. 

Let the soul be filled with this charity or love, 
and it wants to imitate, even to emulate the charity 
of Jesus Christ. 

That soul never questions whether it is bound to 
go or to act, whether the neglect or deed will or 
does offend God grievously or not, such a thought 
never enters the mind of the God-loving soul. Its 
only thought and desire is to please God, to do as 
much for God as it possibly can and to do it for 
God, leaving to Him the giving of the reward, 
trusting Him so, because we know Him to be our 
father, so He will never be wanting unto us. 

276 




Such a soul is the personification and realization 
of generosity« It cannot do enough for that God 
who gave Himself all and all to us. That soul wants 
and tries to give herself to God all and all and live 
only for Him. 

Going to Church, hearing the word of God, assist¬ 
ing at mass and devotions are so congenial to that 
soul, and her greatest delight is to receive her God 
in Holy Communion. 

That person is a model Christian. The charity of 
Christ urges on that soul to sublime virtue. Noth¬ 
ing seems hard or difficult, nothing is impossible to 
her, for the love of God prompts her, and there is 
nothing small or base in her mind or heart. How 
could it be when she is filled with the fullness of the 
love of God? 

Hence, when the altar or the Church, for there is 
the home of the living God; or the poor, for they 
are the living images of God, need anything, there 
is no diplomacy or business tact; the gift generous 
and plentiful comes straight from the heart in 
abundance as the fruit of divine love. 

Oh, dearly beloved ones in Jesus Christ, how I 
do pray that my poor heart and yours may be filled 

277 




with that generous love of God, then I would never 
have to exhort you to come to mass, to services, to 
holy communion; nor would I have to beg for means 
to support the altar, the school and the Church and 
the poor of the parish. God grant my prayer—let 
us all be filled with that sublime spirit and in its 
fullness unto God. 


278 




^ebenteentf) ^unbap after Pentecost 


St. Paul writes to the Ephesians: “One Lord, 
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” 

Let us try this morning to understand the mean¬ 
ing of these clear words of the great Apostle, as it 
will help us to appreciate our faith and strengthen 
us in it. 

One Lord. What is Lordship but mastery over 
us? Did not our Lord buy us by the shedding of 
His own blood? God was our Lord and Master, 
but by rebellion we were rejected by Him and be¬ 
came outcasts. Christ redeemed us, that is, paid for 
us, rebought us, and by the price or redemption He 
acquired full right and power of Lord over us. It 
is not a mastery over slaves, though we were made 
so by sin, as conquerors in war acquire the van¬ 
quished becoming the slaves of the conqueror. It 
is a conquest of freedom, and all those who will of 

279 





with that generous love of God, then I would never 
have to exhort you to come to mass, to services, to 
holy communion; nor would I have to beg for means 
to support the altar, the school and the Church and 
the poor of the parish. God grant my prayer—let 
us all be filled with that sublime spirit and in its 
fullness unto God. 


278 




^ebenteentf) ^uttlmp 3Wter Pentecost 


St. Paul writes to the Ephesians: “One Lord, 
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” 

Let us try this morning to understand the mean¬ 
ing of these clear words of the great Apostle, as it 
will help us to appreciate our faith and strengthen 
us in it. 

One Lord. What is Lordship but mastery over 
us? Did not our Lord buy us by the shedding of 
His own blood? God was our Lord and Master, 
but by rebellion we were rejected by Him and be¬ 
came outcasts. Christ redeemed us, that is, paid for 
us, rebought us, and by the price or redemption He 
acquired full right and power of Lord over us. It 
is not a mastery over slaves, though we were made 
so by sin, as conquerors in war acquire the van¬ 
quished becoming the slaves of the conqueror. It 
is a conquest of freedom, and all those who will of 

279 





their free accord submit to the Lord Jesus Christ 
shall be set free with the freedom of God. 

All those who will not acknowledge Christ as 
Lord will remain slaves of Satan and outcasts of 
God. It was the right to become a^gain the children 
of God, and to regain the right of inheritance to 
heaven that our Lord bought from His Father by 
paying dearly for it with His passion and death. 
Therefore the price of our souls is the whole merito¬ 
rious life, and above all the sufferings and death of 
Jesus. This is the Lordship which He acquired 
over the whole creation, and therefore we cannot be 
the children of God, nor secure any right to heaven 
except through Jesus Christ. The domain of grace 
and salvation is exclusively His own. There He is 
Lord. 

St. Paul tells us that there is but one Lord. Yes, 
one Lord, one Redeemer, one Savior, one Mediator 
with the Father. He is the only way. No one can 
reach the Father except through Him. There¬ 
fore there is no supernatural or divine in this world 
except Christ. Outside of Him no one can have 
access to the Father, no one can lay claim unto 
salvation. For any one attempting so bold a scheme 
280 




would trespass on the Lordship of Christ and assume 
the power and prerogative of God the Son. 

Does this not teach us clearly that outside of 
Jesus Christ, who alone has absolute dominion over 
earth and heaven, who alone is the only mediator 
between God and man, there is no salvation possible, 
that we must go to Him for it, that we must obtain 
it from Him, by receiving His doctrine and by fol¬ 
lowing His example. 

Lord and Master; He alone can place the condi¬ 
tions necessary for salvation and only as we comply 
with them or fulfill them, shall He and can He, 
give salvation. 

This, beyond all doubt, teaches us that we must 
receive the doctrine of Christ just as He teaches it, 
and follow His commandments just as He gives 
them. Now He has, as I will explain to you on 
some other occasion, left His doctrine and com¬ 
mands to an infallible tribunal called the Church, 
which teaches and commands precisely what He 
taught and commanded. 

Therefore the Apostle adds, “one faith.” How 
could there be more than one, if there is but one 
Lord. He has the infallible and absolute truth of 


281 




God. How could he possibly teach any other but 
that truth? If that were possible, He would contra¬ 
dict Himself and belie the Father who sent Him. 

As sin is rebellion to God, so the Son of God, by 
becoming Lord of all creation, makes it a necessary 
condition of salvation that man shall receive the 
doctrine of His Father by submission of the human 
intellect to the truth of God and by obeying the 
commands, humble his rebellious will to the will of 
God so through Christ to become reconciled to God. 

Hence it is clear to you that all beliefs and prac¬ 
tices are worthless and vain except Christian faith, 
the true correct faith in Jesus Christ.. Nothing else 
can be acceptable to God. 

Still further, the Apostle adds, “one baptism,” 
that is, regeneration, a second birth, higher and 
nobler than the natural birth of man into this 
physical world. In the United States you are not 
considered a citizen unless native born, but if not 
native born you must take out your naturalization 
papers, that is, you must be reborn nationally, and 
renounce all allegiance to any foreign potentate or 
power. So in Christ, you must be reborn spiritually, 
and from the depths of your soul renounce all alle- 
282 





giance to sin and Satan, and thus become ingrafted 
upon Jesus Christ. 

Kemember the Apostle says one baptism, and 
therefore Christian baptism, baptism in Jesus Christ 
is the only regenerating power on earth., Water, as 
the outward sign in the act of cleansing, but of the 
Holy Ghost, who is one with Christ, otherwise there 
is no baptism, hence the Church is so particular 
about the administration of baptism, as it is the most 
necessary sacrament for salvation. It is the priest 
who is the ordinary minister of that one Lord and 
one faith, who administers that necessary sacrament, 
and at any time, if there should arise a valid doubt 
about our baptism, that necessary sacrament must 
be administered again, at least conditionally. 

How well does the great Apostle climb, as it were, 
from the one Lord, our Lord and Savior, Jesus 
Christ, to the one faith in Him, to infuse into us the 
eternal life of that Christian faith through baptism, 
and thus lead us to the one God, our Father. If we 
reflect well upon these words they explain in a very 
simple manner the whole plan of salvation. 

We should not look for salvation to anyone but 
Christ, who is truly our Lord and Master, and by 
believing in Him through faith, which is one as He 

283 




is one, and being reborn in Him, we reach unto God, 
the Father of all, one Christ, one Christian faith, 
one Christian baptism, and thus heir and coheir of 
Christ unto God our Father. 

Hence the words of God: “He that shall believe 
and be baptized shall be saved.” Unless you are re¬ 
born of water and the Holy Ghost you shall not en¬ 
ter the kingdom of heaven. 

Let me draw the final conclusion: As there is but 
one Christ, one faith, one baptism, one God, so there 
can only be one Church, the Church of Jesus Christ, 
the groundwork and pillar of truth. 


284 




Cis&teentl) ^unbap jSOftcr Pentecost 


The letter from which I read to you to-day is from 
St. Paul to the Corinthians. I take these words 
from it: “I give thanks to my God, always for you, 
that in all things you are made rich in Jesus Christ, 
in all utterance and knowledge.” 

Most people are very anxious to be rich, and to ac¬ 
quire wealth they will make every effort, and leave 
nothing undone to secure it at any cost—early ris¬ 
ing, heavy, constant work, even late at night, work, 
toil to secure riches. 

And when they obtain them, either by inherit¬ 
ance or hard work, and have in their possession 
enough means to call themselves rich, what can they 
do with them? 

We will suppose that no misfortune befalls them, 
but that they can use and spend that wealth to the 
best advantage, for woe to the fool who has wealth, 
for it simply brings disgrace and poverty upon him. 

285 




Well, we can live happily, we will build a beauti¬ 
ful borne and furnish it elegantly and decorate it 
lavishly. Everything will be of the very best; money 
will be no consideration; we will only look to com¬ 
fort and ease and beauty. A very choice piece of 
ground is bought. It is so situated that it will afford 
light and air in abundance. It will overlook charm¬ 
ing scenery, mountains, fine prairies, streams and 
valleys, and nicely laid-out gardens. Truly an ideal 
spot. Money cannot buy anything nicer. 

Will it not be a Paradise to live in? Everything 
will be first class; the sleeping apartments with 
southern exposure fit for a king; the parlors and re¬ 
ception rooms how rich and tastefully furnished to 
receive and entertain the whole family and many 
friends and neighbors for domestic and social gath¬ 
erings. 

Our dress shall be the source of envy in others. 
Of course it shall be perfectly fitting and most be¬ 
coming to our wealthy and prominent position in 
society. Most costly jewelry will shine in the bril¬ 
liant and countless lights that will turn day into 
night. 

See what money, riches and wealth can secure for 
us. O happy we can be, if we are only rich. Well, 




should any sickness, or even any danger of disease 
come near us, our money can bring to us the special¬ 
ist, the experienced doctor, and buy the costliest 
medicine for us. What more can we desire? 0 give 
us wealth and we can buy everything. This is the 
alluring glitter and power of gold which has become 
the God of many, because to secure it and live for it 
is the aim of the vast majority of people. 

Hear our Lord advising us to become rich, but to 
lay up treasures in heaven, where the moth cannot 
spoil nor rust reach them. What then is true wealth, 
true riches? Let one of those wealthy people about 
whom I have spoken to you so far, die, where is all 
the wealth? Gone. 

0 dear friends, remember the words of the Apos¬ 
tle: “I thank God that in all things you are made 
rich in Jesus Christ.” The inheritance he left us 
is not merely of earth, but of heaven. We must go 
to the moral and supernatural world to see and ap¬ 
preciate our wealth and riches in Jesus Christ. 

Let a babe be born in the home of plenty and lux¬ 
ury. Envy it not, for we have been reborn in the 
Church, the home of Jesus Christ, into His divine 
kingdom unto a new life which is the supernatural 

287 




life of grace, never to be lost, but to be lived into the 
eternal mansions of God. 

In the strict sense of the word we do not possess 
riches—gold, silver, jewelry. We have only the use 
of them for a time, but the riches of Christ become 
ours, truly ours, in the inmost depths of our soul. 
We enjoy them, and no one can reach them to de¬ 
prive us of them. One ray of light of God’s grace 
makes our soul, our hearts, more brilliant than all 
the reception rooms and halls made brighter than 
day by electric devices. These light up earth; the 
ray of grace lights up the soul, and it is a heavenly 
light, coming directly from heaven. 

Our homes in Christ are our souls built by the 
Almighty hand of God, but furnished and decorated 
by the Holy Ghost, in imprinting in them and upon 
them Christ, the splendor of heaven, and bringing 
to them all the riches that Jesus gave us as our in¬ 
heritance. 

Real happiness cannot be bought with money; it 
must be in the heart; it must be secure for time and 
eternity. Can earthly riches secure this? Never. 

We must be able to tell of our wealth, and not ex- 
288 




aggerate, as most people do. Well, a true Christian, 
as I hope every one of you is, can tell of Christ in 
all utterance and knowledge. 

The Christian heart is the broad and vast recep¬ 
tion hall for all. It is finer than any temple of God 
built by the inspiration and wealth of good Cath¬ 
olics; vast for all, yes, for the divine charity that 
dwells within, embraces every human being. 

Talk of ancestry, noble blood, buying of titles. 
Well, indeed, and can there be nobler blood than 
that of Jesus Christ, greater ancestry than the count¬ 
less army of our forefathers in the faith, embracing 
within the fold the deepest intellects and purest 
hearts that ever thought or loved on earth? Titles, 
can there be a higher title than that of being a 
Christian allied to Jesus Christ? 

Ye worldly people, wealthy with gold, silver, dia¬ 
monds, have your banquets, bring from afar your 
costly dishes, make the spread fit for kings and 
queens and all the nobility of the world, distribute 
costly souvenirs as you are wont to do, but the Chris¬ 
tian banquet, Holy Communion, what do you think 
of this, Jesus entering our souls to feed them with 
His own flesh and blood? 




When sickness comes consult your specialists, 
spend a fortune on medicines, but as for a Christian, 
though he will not neglect doctors and drugs, he 
will look upon sickness as a visitation from God. 
Should death come near, the Christian will welcome 
it as the time when he will be in possession of his 
real inheritance— heaven. Which of the two is the 
richer, the worldly-rich or the Christ-rich ? Give the 
correct answer and act accordingly. 


290 





Jh'netecntfi ^untiap Sifter Pentecost 


The Apostle in his letter to-day says to the Ephe¬ 
sians: “Wherefore, putting away lying, speak ye 
the truth, every man with his neighbor, for we are 
members one of another.” 

Remark how the Apostle strongly advises the first 
Christians not to forget that they were members one 
of another. Our fellowship and brotherhood of God, 
in Jesus Christ, unite us more closely than the ties 
of flesh and blood. So few people seem to realize 
this, and notwithstanding this moral, supernatural 
and divine membership, they hide or keep from one 
another truth, which by its nature belongs to all, 
is, so to speak, common property, and therefore to 
hide it from one another is wrong. 

But, if to hide the truth is wrong, it is far worse 
to speak against it, for God is truth, and to speak 
against the truth is to speak against God. 

To speak against the truth is wrong in itself, in¬ 
dependently of all circumstances, for it means to 

291 




substitute falsehood for truth, which is indeed very 
wrong, and goes directly against God and man. 

The Apostle tells us “not to give place to the 
devil,” for we all know that he is the father of lies. 
He started in Paradise by lying to our first parents, 
and whenever he brings people to ruin it is by lying. 

Now, we give place to the devil by listening to 
him, by allowing him to tempt us, by not immedi¬ 
ately resisting his attack, but letting him deceive 
us by his lies. Certainly this is very bad, and will 
bring about our ruin. 

But if it is so bad and wrong to give place to the 
devil by listening to him, how much worse is it to 
play devil by telling lies, and become a follower of 
the father of lies, and deceive our neighbors, our own, 
forgetting that we are members one of another? 

Lying is unfortunately a very common fault or 
sin, and if we are not careful we will very readily 
and quickly acquire the habit of lying, which will 
spoil our character, destroy all confidence in our¬ 
selves as well as in others, and- do a great deal of 
harm. 

Generally, people think little of a lie. Why, they 
say, they cannot help telling them; they are often 

292 




forced to tell them; they at times must tell them 
to avoid or prevent greater evil, and the effect of all 
such excuses brings on the mean, hypocritical habit 
of lying and of deceiving one another. 

Here we must apply the words of the Holy Ghost: 
“He that is negligent in small things shall be negli¬ 
gent in greater things,” and by telling what peo¬ 
ple call small lies, we gradually lose all respect for 
truth, and tell falsehoods so grievous and so injuri¬ 
ous that we fall into mortal sin. 

It is a deplorable fact that children, unless well 
trained and impressed by good Christian parents, 
frequently acquire that ugly habit, which grows on 
them, and they very often, in after life, keep up that 
habit, which is so ruinous to virtue and to a good 
Christian life. 

Therefore, the Apostle says it in unmistakable 
words, “Speak ye the truth, putting away all lying,” 
and you know very well that we suspect one another 
very quickly of lying when they say something to 
us which seems strange. Does that not prove that 
the words of the Apostle must be repeated to us? 

Seeing how easily that habit is acquired, and how 
common this ugly sin is amongst us, I would 

293 






strongly advise parents, superiors and teachers not 
to force a child or drive it so, to tell the truth about 
itself or others when some fault has been commit¬ 
ted, or some wrong has been done, for we expose it, 
we almost drive it, to deny the truth. A lie of this 
kind hurts the child forever. 

But lies become very grievous sins and very dam¬ 
aging in their effects when we lie about our neigh¬ 
bor, when we tell of him what is not true, either to 
shift responsibility from ourselves to him, or through 
spite or jealousy. May God save us from such lying. 

Even more grievous when we belie or contradict 
the teachings of God or of the Church, which sin 
goes directly against God by giving the lie to divine 
truth, or thus to God Himself. This is the terrible 
sin of willful heresy. 

Do I say that you must tell the truth always? I 
answer, yes, always, and on some occasions you are 
bound, under pain of mortal sin, to tell the truth; 
for instance, when you are a witness in a court of 
justice. Then tell the truth honestly before God, 
for there you are under oath, and if you should dare 
tell a lie you would be guilty of a terrible sin called 
perjury. It means you dare call God to witness that 
what you say is true, and yet you know it is a lie. 

294 




There are, however, many occasions in which we 
are not bound to tell others what we know; for in¬ 
stance, our own private family affairs, the faults of 
our neighbor, our own private affairs, but remember 
not to tell things of that kind and keep them secret, 
for prudence’s sake, is quite different from telling 
lies. To keep the truth which is private and delib¬ 
erately to tell lies are as different as good and evil. 

My dearly beloved brethren, if any one of us has 
been lying, break that habit, root it out of your 
hearts, and acquire the habit of speaking the truth 
in all sincerity one to another, as members of one 
another, for the sake of God, our Father, through 
the Charity of Jesus Christ. 


295 




'Ctoenttetfj ^tmbap Sifter Pentecost 


St. Paul writes to the Ephesians: “See, brethren, 
how you walk circumspectly, not as unwise, but as 
wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.” 

I need not try to convince you, dear friends, that 
the days are evil. You know that as well, better 
than I do, for you see the world more directly than 
I do, as your daily life necessarily brings you in 
contact with the world. 

When the Apostle warns you to walk circum¬ 
spectly, he does not intend to tell you to be on your 
guard about being cheated or robbed. You can and 
generally do take care of that, but he advises you to 
live in this world, full of evil days, in wisdom, in 
the wisdom of God. 

How shall we be wise, with that wisdom of God? 
The truly wise, the Apostle tells us, walk circum¬ 
spectly, that is, they have their eyes wide open, look 
around carefully, as they have to walk through 
200 





this world full of evil days. Avoid all the snares 
placed before them, and redeem the time. 

How useful and necessary that advice, “Be on 
your guard, but take care to redeem the time.” So 
it is not enough to steer clear of worldliness and its 
temptations, but we must make good use of time, 
the days and years of life given to us to lay by merit 
—not to squander time. 

I would like every one of you to examine your 
conscience, and see before God whether you are 
making good use of the time that God gives you or 
whether you are squandering it. 

Have you, do you follow, any method in your way 
of living, or do you live like barbarians, out of one 
day into another, carried along by circumstances as 
they come to us, and losing a great deal of time? 

The proper use of time is one of the greatest 
blessings of our life, and to profit by it is simply to 
carry out the purpose for which God gives it to us. 

Could we not do a great deal more during the day 
than we are doing at present? Mind, I do not mean 
by hurrying or rushing, for then little or nothing 
is accomplished, and what we do is done negligently 
or carelessly, but I mean if we had some plan or 
method both as regards what we do and when we 
do it, in other words, were we to have regularity in 

297 




our daily life, we would culture ourselves, we would 
be self-possessed and we would live orderly; and as 
God’s first law is order, it would be more easy for 
us to live for God. 

Our daily life is what we make it. We live it 
gradually and by successive actions, and regularity 
makes life worth living. Our life is rational and 
only fit for us, as men, and especially as Christians, 
in as far as there is method in our life. 

A regular life has a very deep bearing on oui 
conscience, and generally the exterior manner in 
which we live is a sure sign of the state of our 
moral and spiritual life. 

If people would put method, order, into their 
daily way of living, how much time could they spare 
to be spent in self improvement, for the good and 
welfare of their soul. 

Most lives, and this fact is to be deplored, are 
simple mechanical actions, servile in nature, wear¬ 
ing away physical strength, but not improving the 
human character, rather leaving the mind void and 
empty, and the heart cold and unhappy. 

Can you so arrange your daily occupations—and 
if not during the week, at least on. Sundays—to 

298 




spend a few hours in useful reading, one of the most 
conducive means to self improvement, to store the 
mind with useful information and warm the heart 
unto healthful and Christian practices? Can you 
not read to those at home and thus bring the family 
together to share in the beneficent effects of good 
Catholic or historical reading. You understand I do 
not mean light or frivolous reading. 

Can you not so arrange your home duties as to be 
able to assist at mass, even on week days, or at least 
to come in time on Sundays and days of obligation, 
especially if you have been, perhaps, in the habit of 
coming late? 

Can you not make it convenient to have a regular 
time, once a month or at least several times a year, 
to approach the sacraments? Above all, can you not 
with very little effort have family prayer morning 
and evening? Can you not teach your children to 
live with regularity and method? 

This advice, moreover, means to do all things 
with order and regularity and to do them well. It 
simply means to live your lives as rational and hu¬ 
man beings should live, and above all to live like 
Christians. 


299 




Set to work; let not these wise words of Christian 
advice given to us by the Apostle and read to you 
to-day for your instruction, go in one ear and out 
by the other. Make out for yourself some order of 
living regularly—a proper time to rise, not squan¬ 
dering valuable time in prolonging the hours of 
sleep late into the day, a time for morning and 
evening family prayer, a time for improving your 
mind and heart, a time to go to church, to go to the 
sacraments, so that by your redeeming time you 
may make up for past negligences, you may live like 
a good Christian should live—a life of merit, filled 
with thoughts and actions of Christian virtues, a 
life worthy of God, a model life fit to be imitated 
by those around us. 


800 




Ctoentp-ftrst ^uitliap lifter Pentecost 


St. Paul says to the Ephesians: “Therefore take 
unto you the armor of God, that you may be able 
to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things 
perfect.” 

St. Paul in his letter to-day mentions the means 
which Christ has placed at our disposal for obtain¬ 
ing the complete victory over all our enemies. As 
such, do you not think that we should know these 
means, and know likewise when and how to use 
them ? 

Our enemies are so powerful and strong, so experi¬ 
enced, so cunning, and we are surrounded by them 
on all sides. As St. Paul writes, our wrestling is not 
against flesh and blood, but against principalities 
and powers, against the rulers of the world of this 
darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the 
high places, therefore he says, “Prepare for battle, 
arm yourselves.” 

SOI 





For a great many people it is difficult to under¬ 
stand the nature of this battle, what is at stake and 
which are the weapons we must use. We will con¬ 
sider these things in the instruction of to-day. 

The nature of this battle, which is lifelong, for 
the life of man is a perpetual warfare; is for spirit 
over matter, purity over immorality, sobriety over 
drunkenness, generosity over avarice, self-sacrifice 
over selfishness, zeal over sloth, virtue over crime, 
God over Satan, heaven over hell. No one can be 
neutral, you must fight and you are actually fighting 
on one of the sides: “He who is not with me is 
against me.” No one of us can be idle for a mo¬ 
ment. From morning till night our enemies are 
attacking us and waging an unceasing war against 
us. They never rest, especially our arch-enemy, 
about whom St. Peter says he goes around like a 
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. 

The battle is not in an open field with soldiers in 
line; the struggle goes on when we are alone or with 
others, at home or abroad, day and night. All at¬ 
tacks are well planned and ingeniously covered. 
The plan is to entice us with pleasing representa¬ 
tions, with lies that have the appearance of truth, 
with pleasures that seem so enjoyable, holding out 

302 




under the false mask wreck and ruin, and our ene¬ 
mies, the devil and the world, allure our flesh unto 
concupiscence. 

Now on our part, by nature and by the fall, we 
are very weak and little prepared to battle with 
such enemies, so numerous and so cunning. We 
carry within our natures a traitor—our flesh with 
its passionate impulses and cravings, ever, as the 
Apostle says battling against the spirit. The spirit 
itself, weakened in intellect and will by that miser¬ 
able fall. Our heart for each one of us is the battle¬ 
field. Our enemies will take that fortress unless we 
battle successfully. The two great armies of Christ 
and antichrist, of God and of Satan are engaged in 
this great struggle, and I am either in the army of 
Christ or that of antichrist, and that struggle shall 
last until I close my eyes in death. 

And what is at stake, as the result of that fierce, 
lifelong struggle between all those powerful enemies 
and our weak, fallen natures. Brethren, everything 
is at stake—God’s honor and glory, the triumph of 
Christ over Satan, of virtue over vice, of all that is 
good and noble over all that is vile and contempti¬ 
ble ; but above all, our temporal and eternal welfare, 
our great reward which our divine Leader, Jesus 

303 




Christ, will bestow on all those who struggle under 
his banner—the Crucified, from Whom all power 
flows. ^ 

In Paradise the devil deceived our first parents. 
Satan could not reach God directly. He had been 
baffled and crushed in his proud and foolish attempt 
to place his throne next to that of the Almighty, 
and therefore he swore revenge on God’s image, and 
by his lies and deception caused them to rebel 
against God. Therefore God will conquer Satan and 
humble him and crush him through man. Under 
the standard of the cross God will raise an army of 
volunteers who will give battle to Satan and con¬ 
quer him and all his followers through the power 
of Jesus Christ, their leader. How noble the Chris¬ 
tian soldier, under the leadership of Jesus crushing 
the enemies of God and his own by the humility and 
irresistible power of the cross. 

And what are our weapons? Oh, friends of our¬ 
selves, we have none. Besides, all the weapons we 
could make would be useless. As well might poor, 
ignorant and weak savages flatter themselves that 
they can successfully fight our modern armies with 
their guns and torpedoes and every war material of 
late construction—poor savages using their old bows 

304 




and arrows. My friends, unless we get help and re¬ 
inforcements from some source or other, God’s cause, 
Christ’s cause and ours is lost. We need supernat¬ 
ural and divine help. Thank God, we have an ar¬ 
senal filled and stored with every weapon we may 
need in the great struggle. 

With Christ as our leader, He who crushed sin, 
death and hell, who understands the snares of His 
enemies and ours, has with divine wisdom supplied 
the weapons with which we can easily overcome all 
our enemies. 

No fortifications were ever so strong and impreg¬ 
nable as ours. The mind, through faith in Jesus 
Christ, is so clear-sighted it readily sees through the 
snares and wiles of the enemy like a modern search¬ 
light laying bare the enemy and uncovering all his 
plans and preparations. The will, through the grace 
of God, leans upon God. The Apostle says: “Put 
ye on therefore the armor of God, that you may be 
able to stand against the deceits of the devil.” 
“Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that 
you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to 
stand in all things perfect.” He describes the armor 
of God in full: “Have your loins girt with truth; 
have the breastplate of justice, the feet shod with the 

305 




preparation of the gospel of peace; the shield of faith; 
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit” 
—that is, the word of God. Now, brethren, thus 
equipped, let us go to battle. Remember, our suffi¬ 
ciency is from God through Christ. We are fight¬ 
ing for Him, for His triumph. Therefore He is 
with us as Leader and with His grace in our hearts, 
with His angels to assist us, our victory is secure. 


306 




'STtoentj^sieconli J>untmp Sifter Pentecost 


The letter of St. Paul to the Philippians: “We 
are confident of this very thing, that He who had 
begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the 
day of Jesus Christ.” 

From these words of the Apostle we must under¬ 
stand that God, who has begun a good work in us— 
that is, the work of making us His children—will 
perfect it unto the day of Jesus Christ—will make us 
perfect Christians like our Lord, our model. 

For that very reason Jesus told His hearers : “Be 
ye perfect even as my Heavenly Father is perfect,” 
placing before us the infinite perfection of the Fa¬ 
ther for our imitation, though He knew very well 
that we are human, poor and frail. 

In order to make this imitation possible, and easy 
for us, the Son of God comes into this world and 
becomes like one of us, so that He can show us the 

307 





perfection of His Father in His daily life. How lit¬ 
tle do we understand the elevation of our nature 
unto God through Christ. 

Most people when they hear us preach, or when 
they read, about perfection, they immediately im¬ 
agine that in order to reach perfection we must do 
something very wonderful—work a miracle, fast all 
the time, stay in Church from morning until night, 
never raise our eyes to look at anything, be always 
leciting or saying prayers, never laugh or have any 
enjoyment or lawful amusement, never to be 
tempted, never to feel deeply moved, never to weep 
even if our dearest and nearest relatives would die— 
in short, a most unfeeling, unnatural being, living 
on air and so completely wrapt in deep meditation 
that we never see or hear anything in this world. 

Being led astray by such vagaries of a diseased 
imagination, we find that such a life is simply im¬ 
possible for us, and therefore we cannot be perfect 
or be a saint. 

Thank God, perfection does not consist in doing 
or thinking of any of such things extraordinary and 
generally impossible. The Kingdom of God is with¬ 
in us, and as our infallible teacher, Christ, our Lord, 

308 




made no special conditions and no exception as to 
time and place. It follows that perfection, which is 
obligatory on all, is, and must be, something easy— : 
within the reach of all, and at all times and places. 
According to the command of our Lord, we should 
live a perfect life always, and ever be prepared to 
die, for we know neither the day nor the hour when 
He may call us. 

Every one cannot preach the gospel, say mass, 
hear confessions; every one cannot go to communion 
and holy mass every day; every one has not the time 
to say long prayers every day, or to visit the sick, 
and yet the command of our Lord wants all to be 
perfect with the perfection of His Heavenly Father. 
It is clear from this that perfection must be some¬ 
thing very simple, within the reach of rich and poor, 
capitalist and laborer, no matter what our profes¬ 
sion or trade or occupation may be. 

This being clearly understood, let us try to find it. 
And where shall we look for it, except in our Lord, 
the model of the elect, the exemplar which the Fa¬ 
ther has sent us for our imitation. 

Christ was perfect with the perfection of His 
Heavenly Father at all times and in all places, 

309 




whether lying in the manger, motionless and speech¬ 
less, or preaching or working miracles or suffering 
or dying on the cross, always the same Christ and 
always perfect with the perfection of the Father. 
Besides, every act of Christ was equally meritorious 
—to fold His hands in prayer, to help His foster 
father or dear mother at Nazereth, even in the most 
common actions of daily life, sweeping, running 
errands, was just as meritorious as preaching and 
fasting and working wonders. 

Let us not look so much to the exterior of the 
action—it may be showy, brilliant, astonishing, 
even miraculous—but it is not so much what we do, 
as how we do it. 

Are not the majority of people placed in the most 
humble positions and occupations of life? How 
could they be perfect when every one of their daily 
actions is outwardly mere routine and drags them 
along. 

Thank God, our model performed housework and 
common labor; He was poor, He was considered by 
all the neighbors who know Him as the son of a 
carpenter, proving to us that there was nothing in 
His outward conduct very striking or wonderful. 

310 




Oh, great sanctity! Oh, perfection of the Heavenly 
Father as taught by the infallible model Christ! 

It mattered. not which action He performed, 
for every action came from the same divine mind, 
for the same divine intention. There was the soul of 
His actions that made them perfect with divine per¬ 
fection. He did all because His Father so willed it. 
“The will of God is our sanctification.” And there¬ 
fore perfection, divine perfection, consists in doing 
our daily, common, simple, insignificant actions for 
God, because He wants us to do these as they be¬ 
long to our state of life; but sanctify them, perfect 
them by doing them for God in imitation of Jesus 
Christ. 

Is it not a most consoling thought that all of us 
can imitate Christ so closely? that Christ by His life 
and example has placed divine perfection within 
our reach? 

From morning till night you can grow more and 
more perfect; every one of your daily actions can be 
made a bright link in the chain of life to reach unto 
God so that the good work which God has begun 
in you may reach the perfection of the Father. 

Can we not unite our intentions to those of our 
Lord? tie had to rest during night; He worked dur- 

311 




ing day; He ate to support His human nature, and 
every act was an act of infinite merit and divine 
perfection. As St. Paul says: “Whatever you do, do 
it for the honor and glory of God.” 

Thank God, brethren, that we can be perfect 
with the perfection of our Heavenly Father; that 
we never have to lose a single moment of time— 
all and everywhere and at all times live for God. 

You, dear people, that have to work so hard for 
a living, you, dear mothers, that have to help take 
care of the household, do not lose all the merit, but 
by performing every action well, for God and in 
imitation of Jesus, how much merit can you store 
for yourselves in the Kingdom of God; how you 
will increase daily in perfection. And so, all of us 
should imitate our Lord every day of our lives and 
so carry out the command of our Lord: “Be ye per¬ 
fect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” 


312 




CtoentHfjtrli <£unbap 3Kter Pentecost 


St. Paul tells the Philippians that: “Many walk, 
that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose 
end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and 
whose glory is in their shame.” 

From these words of the Apostle it is clear that in 
his day there were Christians who, notwithstanding 
the preaching of the Apostle, led bad lives and fol¬ 
lowed their evil inclinations, rather than the in¬ 
structions of their pastors. 

It is so in our day, and there is scarcely a pastor 
in charge of a congregation but he can justly say 
about some members of his congregation what the 
Apostle said about those confided to their care. 

Is it not astonishing that people who have been 
baptized in Jesus Christ, who have received the gift 
of faith, that supernatural light in which we see 
God and believe in Him, and at whose disposal 

313 





Christ has left so many means, which if used prop¬ 
erly would make saints of them, should squander 
all these blessings and deaden that divine faith by 
sin, and become, as the Apostle says, enemies of 
God, and we may add, enemies to themselves. 

Let me turn to you, dear ones in Christ Jesus, 
and ask you, Are there not some, oh, I dare not say 
many, in our midst to whom we might justly 
apply the words of the Apostle? 

Are there any enemies of the cross in our midst? 
If so, what are they. The cross stands for humility, 
self-sacrifice, redemption and Christian victory, the 
standard and banner of Christ which alone can and 
did conquer all that is lo|w and vile and contempti¬ 
ble. Its enemies therefore are in league with the 
proud and self-conceited; they are slaves of their 
passions, slaves of the world and of Satan. Like the 
demons, they hate the very sight of the cross; they 
are leading low, vile and contemptible lives; they 
are fighting the battle for Satan, sin and hell. 
Satan is their leader. They are ashamed of Christ; 
they adore not His cross, but the vanities of the 
world; they are so deeply steeped in sin that they 
cannot see the glory of the cross of Christ—enemies 
to everything which is moral and pure and just, 

314 




proud with the pride of Lucifer, they depise the hu¬ 
mility of Christ, His poor, His faithful followers. 

No wonder that the Apostle says, their end is 
destruction—to themselves and to others. How in 
themselves they deaden every trace of God and of 
His holy grace; how they deliberately extinguish in 
themselves the light of faith; how, gradually, they 
actually hate God and Christ; how they cannot 
bear even the sight of a church or of a priest or of a 
good, practical Catholic. Just like a good Christian 
tries to become like our Lord and make great efforts 
to imitate Him, so they try to become like Satan, 
and in their hatred of anything pure or holy, re¬ 
semble their infernal leader, Satan. How true are 
the words of our Lord, “No one can serve two mas¬ 
ters. You will hate one and love the other.” 

What is the aim of Satan? To destroy or to inter¬ 
fere with, the Kingdom of Christ, especially in the 
souls of the faithful, and all this on account of his 
hatred to God. And those who are enemies of the 
cross help the devil, who makes his followers hate 
the cross to bring spiritual destruction to all in this 
life and in the next. How blindly they follow their 
master to eternal destruction. 


315 




They go around, like their vile lying master, and 
like roaring lions, seek whom they may devour by 
their evil conversations, by their bad example, and 
especially by the total neglect of their religion. 
Truly, they are enemies of the cross, and as the end 
of the cross is salvation, so theirs is destruction. 

How terrible the words, “Their god is their belly.” 
The animal cravings of flesh and blood. They live 
only for eating and in many cases, only for drink. 
The cup of drink is their god; in it they drown every 
feeling of faith, of manhood and self-respect. If 
their god is their belly, then God, Creator, Re¬ 
deemer and Sanctifier, are dethroned, and look at 
the enemy of the cross, whose end is destruction, 
kneeling before and adoring the worst passions of 
our depraved nature. Can there be idolatry more 
degrading and abominable? Is your god your belly? 
Do you, through your slavery to your own low 
cravings of that body, neglect and trample under 
foot the wise laws of the Church as regards modera¬ 
tion in eating and drinking, in regard to fast and 
abstinence in Advent, in Lent and on other days 
prescribed by the Church? Do you always yield to 
every desire of flesh and blood? Then your belly is 
your god; you idolize your corrupt fallen nature, 
and your end is destruction. 


316 




But, worse than all, the Apostle adds, they 
glory in their shame. The idea of glorying in such 
a life, aye, boasting of it! If a man with a little 
sense happens to make a mistake, forgets himself 
for the time being, and falls, does he not try to hide 
that shame? Does he go and boast about it? Well, 
judge of the folly of the enemies of the cross. They 
are so blind and proud in their own shame that in¬ 
stead of hiding it, they boast of it and glory in it, 
which glory, the Apostle says, is shame. 

We despise effrontery and open defiance in a 
guilty criminal. When a fallen man or woman is 
beyond all self-respect, has lost all shame, we say 
that they are beyond redemption. Well, friends, 
what shall we say about those who have received the 
gift of faith, and by sin lost it, and have become 
enemies of Christ and of all that is good and noble, 
and degrade themselves, are lost to all self-respect 
and remorse, and are so far above shame that they 
boast of their shameful lives.? Do they not deserve 
to be branded as enemies of society, of decency, of 
morality, more to be shunned than lepers who 
would vitiate every one who comes in contact with 
them? 

How terrible their downfall. They began by neg¬ 
lecting to hear the word of God, by indulging in 

317 


i 



their animal passions, and they now are enemies of 
the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their 
god is their belly, their glory is in their shame. Let 
us turn away from them in disgust and horror, and 
follow the advice which the Apostle gives us in the 
same letter: “Therefore, my dearly beloved, stand 
fast in the Lord.” Yes, remain firm. Be not affected 
by the laugh and the scorn and the contempt which 
the wicked give you. Follow Christ and the breth¬ 
ren who are the admirers and lovers of His cross. 
Thus, in the words of the great Apostle, “to reform 
the body of our lowness through Jesus Christ, and 
to make it like to the body of His glory unto life 
everlasting.” 





Ctoentp=fourt& ^uttbap Sifter Pentecost 


“We cease not to pray for you, that you may 
walk worthy of God.” 

Beloved friends, we should all have enough of 
self-respect and family pride, so-called, to make us 
feel and realize that we are not living for ourselves 
alone, that there are others about whom we should 
have some concern, and that in this world we are 
responsible for another. You are aware that societies 
or clubs will expel a member for unbecoming con¬ 
duct. Well regulated society will not tolerate any¬ 
thing which would bring disgrace. Especially is this 
true about the army or military or state institutions. 
When anything is done unbecoming an officer, or 
even a private, discharge immediately follows. 

But in a family, how every member is careful 
about the good name of the family. Many a crimi¬ 
nal will hide his name and relationship to prevent 
any disgrace from coming to his parents or brothers 

319 





or sisters. And, generally, evil inclined people have 
restrained their passions, in order not to bring dis¬ 
grace on their relatives. They will tell you: “I could 
not steal or get drunk or indulge in lust or murder— 
Oh, I would not care so much for myself, but if my 
father knew it, if my mother found it out, it would 
break their hearts. My brothers and sisters would 
never look at me again; I could not face them. I 
belong to a good family; have very nice and re¬ 
spectable relations; they all would hate me for it.” 
And should such a one fall, how he begs for God’s 
sake not to let his folks know anything about it. 

Even in case of marriage, when strong, natural 
and passionate feeling has made the hasty step 
which brings about a union not favored or ap¬ 
proved by the parents, one of the parties being too 
far beneath the social standing of the other, or 
there is a great difference in religion, or one of the 
parties has done wrong, has been disgraced, how the 
parents condemn that step, if they find it out, and 
how exceedingly careful are those who got married 
to hide that marriage, because they are ashamed to 
acknowledge it. 

Whenever the members of a respectable family 
discover any act of one of the members which is 


320 




disgraceful, how the family pride is touched, and 
they all promise or swear to one another to hide it, 
to send the guilty one far away, to cover it so well, 
even to deny it, and gather up every plausible pre¬ 
text of defense in order to save their good name. 

Should the wrong done become known, should it 
appear in print, in other words, should the evidence 
of the bad act become undeniable, then how the 
other members of the family, with wounded family 
pride, tell the world that it is not the fault of the 
training he got; he was not taught such things at 
home; he always saw better example; he got a fine 
education; we never let him go, to our knowledge, 
into bad company; how he got that far is certainly 
a mystery to us, and he had no business to bring 
disgrace and shame on us. 

Now, brethren, if it is the duty of every one of u® 
to be careful about our conduct so as not to bring 
disgrace on our own, to live a life worthy of our 
parents and relatives, how much more is it our duty 
to live as the Apostle says, “a life worthy of God.” 

We belong to the family of Jesus Christ, and we 
should be more careful about bringing any disgrace 


321 



on Him than we are in avoiding any dishonor or 
shame we might bring on our family in the relation¬ 
ship of flesh and blood. 

What a sublime life we should live, as the Apostle 
says, “worthy of God,” that is, supernatural in 
Jesus Christ, divine, so that it may be really worthy 
of God. 

By our supernatural and divine life the whole 
world should see the difference between us and the 
non-Christian world. Can we not very easily see the 
difference between the educated and cultured and 
refined people and those who are uncouth and rough 
and vulgar? 

Look at the former; they show that refinement 
and culture in their way of talking so correctly, so 
nicely, so gently; in their way of acting, so gentle¬ 
manly or lady-like. We may say that it is not only 
a pleasure, but an honor and a schooling for us to 
be in their company. We cannot help but admire 
them. 

Now, beloved brethren, if some worldly and intel¬ 
lectual culture makes so strong an impression for 
good, what will a life worthy of God produce on all 
those who will come near us? 


322 




Can any culture or refinement or education given 
by the world be compared with the culture and re¬ 
finement which a Christian receives and acquires in 
being engrafted upon Christ, in being uplifted by 
Him unto God the Father? The culture of the 
Christian is divine—as far superior to that of this 
world as heaven is superior to earth. If there is any 
culture or refinement or so-called progress and civil¬ 
ization in this world, it was copied from the re¬ 
demption of the Savior. 

There is our standing, not social, but supernatural, 
and we who have received the fullness of God’s grace 
should therefore make every effort to lead a life 
worthy of God. How we should be on our guard to 
practice privately and publicly the culture and edu¬ 
cation we have received from our Holy Mother, the 
Church, so that we shall be at all times a shining 
light, a thorough Christian, and as such, a true 
gentleman or a real lady. 

Did I say to you that good parents feel it very 
keenly, and feel disgraced when their child mar¬ 
ries without their knowledge and consent, especially 
when the partner of life is not suited and not fit 
company for their child? 

323 





Do you think of the Church of Christ, of God 
your Father? How must they feel over the disgrace 
you bring on them when you dare marry without 
the knowledge and sanction and blessing of Mother 
Church. Is there not public scandal? 

Oh, brethren, let me exhort you! Lead a life wor¬ 
thy of God, worthy of Jesus Christ, worthy of the 
Church, your mother, and your example will bring 
honor and glory to God, and your influence upon 
all those around you will be Christian, civilizing— 
in other words, your life will be worthy of God. 


S24 




























































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APB 12 1907 

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